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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29559693">Present Mistakes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordtrayus/pseuds/lordtrayus'>lordtrayus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mistakes Series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Charmed (TV 1998)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Exposure, F/M, Family, Magic, Obsessive Behavior, Religious Fanaticism, Stalking, The Power of Three (Charmed 1998), Whitelighters (Charmed)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:28:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,141</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29559693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordtrayus/pseuds/lordtrayus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>With the family now aware of Chris' true identity following the incident with Dan, things are much better for Chris at the manor now. However, when Jenny Gordon, Dan's niece, arrives, the situation escalates and while Chris could be being paranoid, he could be rightly concerned that her presence could well lead to exposure...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chris Halliwell &amp; Piper Halliwell, Phoebe Halliwell &amp; Piper Halliwell &amp; Paige Matthews, Piper Halliwell/Leo Wyatt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mistakes Series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the second part of my Mistakes series, also written quite some time ago. This one is more of a lead in to the sequel, Future Mistakes, which I'll post later in the week, but please, let me know what you think and remember its been quite some time since I wrote this!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Present Mistakes</p><p>Chris peered around the kitchen door, alert for any sign of his mother. Ever since she had found out he was her son, she had been trying to convince him to get a haircut, and he didn't want to be ambushed again. Fortunately, there was no sign of her anywhere, so he entered the kitchen and helped himself to some crumpets that he had helped her make the night before.</p><p>It wasn't that he minded her fussing over him, it's what she did. But, while he did appreciate her fussing, sometimes she just went a little too far, like when she volunteered to cut it herself.</p><p>Chris' life had changed significantly ever since they had discovered he was her son, and it had nearly been too late to discover that. Piper had fallen hard and fast for her ex boyfriend Dan Gordon, who had returned to town. However, used to thinking of himself as perfect, he had tried to control Piper, and had wanted to exclude anyone who he saw as a threat to his happiness with her. Growing in paranoia and in obsession, Dan had strangled Chris almost to death, and his mother and her sisters had barely arrived in time to resuscitate him. After that, the entire story of who Chris really was and why he was really here had come out, and Dan had wound up in prison, and then an asylum where he belonged, where his aunt Prue, his grandmother and his great grandmother were all tormenting him in spirit form.</p><p>As he tucked into a crumpet, he walked around to get himself some tea, when he trod on something lying on the floor, earning a yelp from whatever it was, and Chris jumped back in shock, and winced at the glower Piper was giving him as she pulled her head out of the oven.</p><p>"For a thin kid, you have big feet." She said ruefully, and he looked at her apologetically.</p><p>"Sorry mom, I didn't see you there. Why do you have your head in the oven?" he asked, and she pouted.</p><p>"My life has no meaning, so I decided to kill myself." She deadpanned.</p><p>And regretted it at the look of alarm that Chris had on his face and stood up, smiling at her son, wanting to banish the panicked, saddened and scared look she had put there.</p><p>"I was kidding sweetie, I'm not going to kill myself." She assured him, patting his cheek fondly.</p><p>"That wasn't funny." He growled, his eyes hurt and she smiled.</p><p>"Sorry baby. Why were you sneaking around anyway?" she asked curiously, and he looked nervously at her.</p><p>"In case you were looming with scissors to try and give me a haircut." He said, and she rolled her eyes.</p><p>"I'm hardly going to attack you with scissors, but it is a bit long baby, why not let me trim it?" she asked, and he grinned.</p><p>"Because I saw the mess you made of the turkey you were just 'trimming' last week, and I don't want to wind up like the poor bird. Bad enough it was dead and cooked, you went and mutilated it for good measure." He said, and she glowered at him.</p><p>"Well it's been a while since I've had to carve something, sue me. Alright fine, keep your hair long. But don't come crying to me if it gets stuck somewhere." She said, and he rolled his eyes, just as the bell rang.</p><p>"Go and get that, I'm sticking my head back in the oven, it's clarty." She said, bent down and stuck her head back inside it, cursing as she did so.</p><p>"You've cracked mom." He said fondly, and went to open the door, as Phoebe and Paige were still clattering around upstairs.</p><p>He opened the door to see a girl of about sixteen staring up at him.</p><p>"Whoa." She said, clearly impressed by what she saw, and he grimaced. Just what he needed, a teenage fan.</p><p>"Can I help you?" he asked politely, and she nodded, her eyes taking in all of him.</p><p>"Yeah, can you tell me if Piper is here? I need to talk to her." She said earnestly, and Chris shot her a mistrusting look.</p><p>"Why?" he asked suspiciously, and she looked at him nervously.</p><p>"About my uncle Dan." She said, and Chris backed away, automatically realising who she was.</p><p>"Mo...Piper!" he called, and he heard his mother curse as she smacked her head on the way out of the oven, swearing as she did so, walking through, massaging her head.</p><p>"Piper? What happened to mo-oh hi Jenny!" Piper said in surprise as she saw the girl standing in the doorway, and the next thing she knew the girl had rushed up to her and hugged her.</p><p>Chris flinched as she did so, not wanting anyone remotely connected with Dan anywhere near his mother. And a niece of his, well that could only spell trouble, a trouble he was more than eager not to repeat.</p><p>"Chris? Ah there you are. I've found a new demon," Phoebe said, breaking off in alarm as she saw Jenny, "striation, of the sort that you were looking for, and was wondering if you wanted to take a look?" she asked, covering rather well before turning to Jenny.</p><p>"Hi Jenny, what are you doing here?" she asked, hugging her old neighbour.</p><p>"I wanted to talk to you about uncle Dan." She said, looking at Piper, whose eyes immediately went to her son, who was looking at her warily.</p><p>"Alright. Why don't you go into the conservatory sweetie and we'll talk?" Piper asked, and Jenny nodded, trekking through with her backpack.</p><p>"You ok?" she asked her son, who nodded.</p><p>"Yeah. What demon have you found aunt Phoebe?" Chris asked, and she beckoned him up the stairs.</p><p>"Come see, come see." She said, giving Piper a significant look, and her sister smiled in silent thanks.</p><p>Not that she would admit it, but she would also feel safer if her son was as far away from any of Dan's family as possible. Even if it was Jenny.</p><p>As Phoebe pulled her nephew up the stairs, Piper filled two glasses with juice and set one in front of Jenny as she entered the conservatory.</p><p>"So Jenny, what's up?" she asked, and Jenny looked at her sadly.</p><p>"Firstly, we had no idea about how ill uncle Dan was. We didn't have any idea that he would force his way into your lives, tell you what to do, and we never dreamed that he would try to kill anyone." She said earnestly, her eyes wide and shocked as she recounted her uncle's crimes.</p><p>Piper nodded, but inside her head, her eyes were narrowed. Perhaps Jenny didn't know that her incredibly nosey father had investigated both Leo and Chris, and had also buried the assault charge Dan had been convicted of before he had even come back into her life. Either way, she didn't want to ruin her illusions of her uncle, which aside from what he had done to Chris, must have been relatively good.</p><p>"Well I'm sorry Jenny, but he did try to kill someone. The cute kid that opened the door to you, he was the one who your uncle tried to kill. And if we hadn't gotten there when we did, then he would have succeeded too." Piper said softly, suppressing a shudder.</p><p>Because if they hadn't gotten there when they had, she would have lost the son she didn't even know she had, and the fact scared her more than anything else.</p><p>"He was who Dan tried to kill? Wow, now I think he's extra crazy." Jenny stated musingly, and Piper sensed her maternal instincts kicking in, figuring out what she was talking about.</p><p>"Jenny, trust me, cute though he might be, Chris isn't for you." She said patiently, and Jenny blushed.</p><p>"I know that Piper, geez, it just seems a shame that uncle Dan nearly killed someone as cute as him." She said conversationally, and Piper rolled her eyes, already accepting that when baby Chris was all grown up and started dating, he would most likely keep any girlfriend far away from the house, in order to spare them the wrath of his overprotective mother.</p><p>"So why are you here, other than to apologise?" Piper asked curiously, and Jenny looked at her pleadingly.</p><p>"Well, I came to see uncle Dan, and he isn't doing so good. He's completely crazy, he thinks he's haunted." She said sadly, and Piper had to suppress a grin at the thought of Prue, her mom and Grams terrorising him.</p><p>"Yeah, so I heard. But Jenny, I can't do anything about that, your uncle is, well he's very ill, he's having delusions." She said, and Jenny nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, I get that, I do. But see, my mom and dad are out in Nigeria with work, and I'm sort of here on my own, so I only have him to talk to. He really misses you Piper. He keeps muttering about you, and I don't know, I sort of hoped that, despite what he's done, you might go and see him? It might really help him, the doctors reckon it might too. And I know it's asking a lot, considering what he nearly did to Chris, and you seem to quite like him, but you used to love uncle Dan, so, could you maybe just go and see him? Once? Please?" Jenny begged, and Piper looked at her, trying to keep the incredulity of the statement from getting to her.</p><p>She wanted her, to go and see her ex boyfriend, who was insane, had wanted to control her life, was suspicious, paranoid and jealous, who had tried to turn her against Leo, tried to force out Paige, had actually turned her against Chris and to top it off had tried to murder her son?</p><p>She was crazier than Dan was!</p><p>"Jenny sweetie, I'm sorry, but I just don't think that's a very good idea. After all, it was because of me that your uncle had his breakdown, and somehow I don't think seeing me will help him any. Not that I don't want to," she lied, seeing the crestfallen expression on Jenny's face, "I just don't think its a very good idea. Besides, I can hardly go to a mental hospital with Wyatt." She reasoned, and Jenny nodded.</p><p>"Oh, that's ok then. But couldn't you get Phoebe or Prue to watch Wyatt? He's your son right?" she asked, and Piper looked at her in astonishment.</p><p>"Jenny sweetie, Prue's dead." She said, and Jenny's eyes widened in shock.</p><p>"What? Dead? When? What happened?" she demanded, and Piper looked at her incredulously.</p><p>Dan had known about Prue's death, surely he had told Jenny? Mind you, he was crazy back then too, and considering his rather medieval views on women he probably hadn't told her because then she would be getting upset, probably didn't think she could handle it as she was too young, an emotional woman.</p><p>"Honey, she died three years ago." Piper said softly, and tears formed in Jenny's eyes and she broke down into sobs, leaving Piper with a distraught teenager on her hands.</p><p>"Paige!" Piper called desperately, and looked for tissues to give to Jenny.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Sorry aunt Phoebe but I don't think he's the one who's after Wyatt." Chris said, and Phoebe pouted.</p><p>"Well why not?" she asked petulantly, and he grinned.</p><p>"Because while it is a good theory, it can't be him, because I vanquished him the week you and mom kicked me out." He said brightly, and she went slightly pink.</p><p>After finding out he was her nephew, and apologising for hitting on him and being a crappy aunt in the future who ignored him in favour of Wyatt, since then she had been the sister working most tirelessly to help him find whoever was trying to hurt his big brother. While Paige and Piper were helping, they had their own problems, but Phoebe, being the sort of supernatural machine that she was, managed to attend to her job, her wiccan duties, fussing over her two nephews and helping Chris all at once.</p><p>"Oh. Well, that's ok then." She said sheepishly, not wanting to traverse over the painful reminder of what she and her sister had done to Chris when Dan had convinced Piper to turn on him.</p><p>Chris was looking ponderingly out of the window, and Phoebe didn't even need her empathy to know that something was bothering him.</p><p>"Chris, what is it? Come on, talk to auntie Phoebe!" she wheedled, sitting him down on aunt Pearl's couch and sitting beside him.</p><p>"It's nothing, I'm just being stupid." He said dismissively, and she looked at him in understanding, a far cry from what he was used to with her.</p><p>"Is it because of Jenny?" she asked, and he nodded.</p><p>"Yeah." He muttered, and she took his hand.</p><p>The poor kid was still rattled by how close Dan had come to destroying him. After all, Dan had turned the people he loved against him, and had then tried to kill him, and if they had arrived any later, Chris would have died. And while he hadn't admitted it to any of them, Chris was scared by how close he had come to death, how close he had come to nearly being condemned to death by a bad decision made by his mother and aunt, choosing Dan over him. And now, Jenny, Dan's niece, was in the house, and even though she was just a harmless girl, she was still related to Dan, and Phoebe supposed it was only natural that he was slightly frightened about having else who could be like Dan so close, especially with what Dan had wanted to do to his mother.</p><p>"Honey, Jenny's harmless." She said placatingly, and he shot her a look, half exasperated, half amused.</p><p>"You also said Dan was harmless, a great guy, and look what happened." He reminded her, and she did have to admit he had her there.</p><p>"Yeah, we got him wrong. Badly wrong. But Chris, she's just a kid, a normal, mortal kid. She can't hurt any of us, why would she want to?" she asked, and Chris shrugged.</p><p>"Why would a normal mortal man want to hurt me? He still did." He said sadly, and she rubbed his back.</p><p>"Because he was insane. Is that what's bothering you, you think because you're a witch you shouldn't be attacked by mortals?" she asked, and he shook his head.</p><p>"No, nothing like that. What I mean is, I'm a witch, who can orb all over creation, flick people away with my fingers, and as soon as he wrapped his hands around my throat, I was completely powerless. I couldn't do anything to protect myself, he nearly killed me." He said, and she sighed as she realised what was really going on in his head.</p><p>She took his hands in hers, and looked at him intently.</p><p>"Hey. I don't know if your mom or I ever told you this when you were growing up, but Prue once had a stalker. Crazy bitch wanted to be Prue. And believe me, she came very close to killing Prue, she ambushed her, lured us out of the house, and was just about to kill her when we got here to save her. Just because we're witches doesn't mean we don't attract normal bad guys Chris, we still do. And Prue felt nearly as defenceless as you did when Dan attacked you. It doesn't make you any less of a witch because you couldn't defend yourself, Wyatt's fiddled with your powers, you couldn't help feeling so powerless. It's not your fault you nearly died, and it in no way means that you're weak. Ok? Not all of our bad guys are demons and warlocks, some are human, and sometimes they're just as bad as the demons. It wasn't your fault what happened, and Jenny isn't Dan. Believe me, Piper would rather let the entire world burn than risk anything happening to you again. Your powers froze not because of anything wrong with you, but because of something Wyatt did. It wasn't your fault sweetie, you don't need to be scared anymore." She said softly.</p><p>"I just, hate that feeling of being so powerless, being unable to help myself, it was scary how weak I felt, how useless I was. He nearly got me, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop him. And now, someone else who's related to him is here, and I'm just worried that they'll do that to me again, hurt me like that again, make me that powerless and useless. I had never been so scared as I was then, and I..." he said worriedly, and Phoebe pulled him into a hug.</p><p>"Oh honey, it's ok. Believe me, you wouldn't be the first Halliwell to freeze up because of something that seems trivial. You're freaking out over a girl with the same last name as the guy who almost killed you. Your mom freaked out because of a sea hag, who on any normal day she could blow up without so much as breaking a sweat. It's ok to be irrationally scared Chris. It's ok to be scared, to feel weak and powerless, because Dan made you weak and powerless, and was trying to kill you. What you're thinking is natural, if irrational." She assured him, and he smiled at her.</p><p>"Thanks aunt Phoebe. I know it seems weird, me being so scared, but..."</p><p>"Chris, he almost killed you. It's ok to be scared of him." She intoned, and Chris shrugged.</p><p>"Yeah but when I confronted him, it didn't bother me."</p><p>"That might have been due to the lack of his hands around your neck," she said wryly, and looked at him intently, "Chris, you aren't a coward, or weak. You're just human, who got spooked by a human bad guy. Trust me, Prue was spooked too. And between you and me, you're even braver than she was." She said fondly and he grinned.</p><p>"Thanks." He said, just as Piper entered, looking irate.</p><p>"I'm going to kill him!" she raged, and the two of them looked at her curiously.</p><p>"Who?" Phoebe asked in confusion.</p><p>"That asshole who tried to kill my son." She sneered angrily, and Phoebe looked at Chris with a smile.</p><p>"I'm assuming she means your one, most of the ones trying to kill Wyatt are gone." She said, and Chris grinned.</p><p>"Why? What's he done?"</p><p>"He didn't tell Jenny about Prue, so now she's crying her eyes out." She said and sank down onto a rocking chair.</p><p>"Great. He really was a jerk wasn't he?" Phoebe asked, and Chris smiled smugly.</p><p>"Told you so."</p><p>"I know you did honey. I mean, why the hell wouldn't he tell her?" Piper grumbled, and Phoebe nodded towards the door.</p><p>"What does she want anyway?" she asked curiously, and Piper scowled darkly.</p><p>"For me to go and visit Dan, she seems to think it will help him. She also doesn't think her father knew about him, but I'm not so generous." She said grouchily.</p><p>Chris' eyes flashed.</p><p>"She wants you to visit the guy who almost killed me?" he demanded angrily, and she nodded reluctantly.</p><p>"Don't worry, I told her no. I might not be able to control myself if I see him again." She said tartly, and Phoebe smiled, while Chris looked relieved.</p><p>"Alright, I need to go into the office. Want a lift somewhere?" Phoebe asked Chris, who looked at her in surprise.</p><p>"Oh, um, I don't know, I was going to stay here, but with someone related to Dan here..." he said nervously.</p><p>"Who also thinks you're cute." Piper said in distaste, approving as Chris rolled his eyes and sighing in disgust as the smile on Phoebe's face.</p><p>"Go with Phoebe sweetie, go shopping or something, just until Jenny's gone. Then she can get on without thinking romantically about you, and you don't have to be in the same place as her." Piper said, and Chris grinned a little.</p><p>"You trying to get rid of me?" he asked, and she smiled.</p><p>"Yes. The last thing I need is the niece of my insane, murderous ex boyfriend fancying my son. Go on, scat." She said, and Chris rose to go with Phoebe, who was rummaging in her purse.</p><p>"Here, go and treat yourself, buy some clothes, some books, go to the arcade, buy lunch for yourself, just relax a little." She told him, giving him fifty dollars.</p><p>"Wow, thanks Phoebe. Strange, it used to be Paige I would rip off." He mused, and he followed her towards the stairs.</p><p>"And you could get a haircut!" Piper called after them.</p><p>"Give it a rest mom!" he yelled back, and Phoebe laughed as they headed down the stairs.</p><p>XX</p><p>Jenny eventually calmed down, and started a rapport with Paige, finding out all about her as she got to know her.</p><p>"Wait, you're here on your own?" Paige asked incredulously, thinking it was highly irresponsible to leave a girl of sixteen to fend for herself.</p><p>"Yeah, it's ok though, I still go to school and everything, it's just better, I don't have any parents nagging me." She said brightly, and Paige frowned.</p><p>"Well, you can't stay by yourself, you shouldn't be on your own, you're underage." She said, and Jenny rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Paige, relax, I can look after myself." She said soothingly, but Paige shook her head.</p><p>"I don't doubt that, but I think you should stay here. It's closer to your school and to visit your uncle anyway." She said, and Jenny's face lit up.</p><p>"Really? You mean it?" she asked, and Paige nodded.</p><p>"Yeah. You're sixteen Jenny, we can't have you being off on your own. And Piper won't mind." Paige said, and Jenny hugged her.</p><p>"Thanks Paige, you're the best." She said, and Paige smiled too.</p><p>Yeah, she was that.</p><p>XX</p><p>"You did what?" Piper hissed, and Paige looked at her sister worriedly.</p><p>"I said she could stay here for a few days until her parents get back." She said, wondering what she had done wrong, all she was doing was helping the girl out.</p><p>"Paige...sweetie. Remember Chris? Quite tall, quite cute, very neurotic and was almost murdered by her uncle? Him? My son, who is staying here too, in the same house as someone even remotely connected with Dan?" Piper asked in a voice of forced sweetness, and Paige gulped.</p><p>"I hadn't thought of that. Sorry Piper, but she's just a kid, even if she is crazy, what harm can she do?" she asked, and Piper sighed.</p><p>"Probably not much, but that isn't something I'm willing to risk. Either way, Chris is still freaked and I don't think Jenny staying here will help him any." She said, and Paige nodded.</p><p>"I didn't think Piper, I'm sorry. But, I thought he was ok with it." She said in concern, and Piper shrugged.</p><p>"I don't know. I think it's just because Dan got really close, he's rattled. And I know the two of us are being irrational honey, but I can't help it. Alright. She can stay. But I don't like it." She said warningly, and Paige nodded.</p><p>"It's alright, she's already volunteered to stay on the couch, and it's just for a few days. And I'll make sure she stays away from Chris." She assured her, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"Thank you. I know we're being dumb, but still. Alright, I suppose I better think of something to look for tea then. Go on, tell your new bff she can stay. But make sure you imply that Chris isn't interested." She said warningly, and Paige nodded.</p><p>"It'll be fine Piper. She thinks he's cute, that's all. Don't worry, I won't let her steal your baby from you." Paige said teasingly, and Piper glowered at her, and Paige wisely, hastily made her escape.</p><p>XX</p><p>Chris and Phoebe entered together, Chris carrying a few shopping bags, grinning in anticipation at the comment of his mother when she saw he hadn't gotten a haircut.</p><p>"Thanks aunt Phoebe." He said, setting down the couple of bags of clothes, books and other things he had bought.</p><p>"You're welcome honey. Yay, my nephew loves me now." She said cheerfully, and he grinned, shooting her a sceptical look.</p><p>"Wait a minute, are you trying to buy my affections?" he asked, and she shrugged.</p><p>"If it works, yes." She said, and he snorted with amusement.</p><p>"Well, it does help, but that's not what's doing it. Just being a proper aunt for a change is winning you major brownie points." He said, and she smiled proudly, just as Jenny appeared around the corner, grinning.</p><p>"Hi Phoebe!" she said brightly, and Phoebe smiled back, though exchanging a confused glance with Chris.</p><p>"Hi Jenny, what are you still doing here?" she asked uncertainly, and Jenny gave her a big smile.</p><p>"Well Paige didn't want me staying on my own for the next few days, so she offered to let me stay here until my parents get back. Isn't that awesome?" she asked brightly, and Phoebe grinned.</p><p>"Yeah it is. Hang on, I need to go and talk to my sisters." She said and headed off to find Paige.</p><p>"Hi." Chris said uncertainly, as Jenny began peering into his shopping bags nosily.</p><p>"Hi Chris." She said with a shy grin, looking at him in interest.</p><p>"Um, what are you doing?" he asked, as she looked in another shopping bag, this one full of clothes.</p><p>"Just looking. I think you'll look great in that black shirt by the way." She said, then skipped off, leaving Chris slightly dumbfounded.</p><p>"Uh...thanks I think." Chris said, watching as she disappeared into the conservatory.</p><p>Jenny was staying here, in the manor. And it was clear that she already had something of a crush on him, which he could seriously do without. For a start, she was related to Dan, and anyone related to Dan, he didn't want anything to do with. Now at least he finally understood why people treated him with as much fear and anger as they treated Wyatt in the future, it just came naturally after a traumatic event. Secondly, she was sixteen, which meant she was both too young and much too old for him. And second, she seemed, well annoying, you didn't just go rummaging in people's shopping bags, especially when you hardly knew them.</p><p>He shook his head at his own paranoia and stupidity. He was being silly. Dan was a threat, he was a fully grown man, who clearly knew how to use his hands. Jenny was just a kid, some silly, lovestruck teenager. Besides, there was no proof she was insane like her uncle, her biggest problem was the fact that she was here and was willing to forgive Dan, and that she had an irritating personality.</p><p>But still, he had an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he headed through to the kitchen to greet his mother.</p><p>XX</p><p>Jenny watched as Chris headed towards the kitchen, eyeing him appraisingly. Who was he really? All she knew was that the three sisters seemed to be very protective of this dark, brooding hotty. Quite tall, with vivid green eyes, long hair that was to the length of his neck, tucked behind his ears, part of it brushed to the side, his face attractively pale, dressed in a black tshirt, jeans and hoody. God was he nice looking.</p><p>She couldn't fathom why her uncle would want to kill him, insane or not. He just seemed too yummy. She smiled, as images of Chris kissing her played in her mind. Sighing dreamily, she sat daydreaming, until Piper called her for dinner, interrupting the image of her in a wedding dress, outside a church, standing beside her gorgeous husband Chris.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jenny makes herself at home, then inadvertently risks exposing the sisters</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Present Mistakes</p><p>Dinner was slightly awkward, not helped by the fact that Jenny spent the entirety of it starting at Chris, which was making him uneasy. However, the sisters didn't seem to notice and kept up a stream of questions about what Jenny had been doing since they had last seen her.</p><p>"What about you Chris? What subjects did you take at school?" Jenny asked, giving him that intent gaze she kept directing at him, and the easy going nature of the dinner faltered as the sisters all looked at Chris worriedly, and his mother with slight interest as well.</p><p>"Um, I didn't finish school." Chris said sadly, and he saw Piper's eyes widen in alarm.</p><p>"Really? How come?" Jenny asked nosily, and he glowered at her.</p><p>"Because my mom and aunts died, my school was destroyed and my brother lost it." He snapped, and she flinched back, and he earned a slight nudge from Paige, who was giving him a slightly scolding look, but then again she could hardly blame the boy.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry. What did you want to do?" Jenny asked in interest, apparently taking his retort in her stride.</p><p>Geez, was there no way to shut her up? He hadn't minded so much when his mother and aunts had been talking to her, but now she was focusing all of her attention on Chris and the questions would only get worse.</p><p>"History I suppose." He answered honestly, he'd always been good at history before the world had gone straight to hell.</p><p>"Oh cool, what sort of history, there's so many choices and I'm worrying about what one I should pick for next year..." she prattled, and fifteen minutes later, after encouraging Jenny to choose European history, he was saved by a cry from upstairs.</p><p>"I'll get it." He said hastily, darting away from the table and headed up the stairs to his crying brother in relief.</p><p>"Hmm. I don't think he likes me much." Jenny pouted as Chris escaped up the stairs, and Piper looked at her, eyes slightly suspicious.</p><p>"Well, you are Dan's niece Jenny. He nearly killed Chris, it's only natural that he's a little jumpy around you." She said, sending a concerned look up the stairs after her son.</p><p>"I think it's more to do with the fact that Jenny is being pretty obvious with the fact that she likes what she sees in Chris." Phoebe said a few minutes later as she and Piper carried the dishes through to the kitchen.</p><p>"Come on, he's bound to have girls throwing themselves at him before." Piper dismissed, but Phoebe shrugged.</p><p>"Yeah, but considering what happened to his fiancé, maybe he isn't so keen to be reminded of any girl who likes him in a romantic way." She said softly, and Piper frowned, thinking of the pain her boy had been in after Bianca had died a few months back, and the most concern they had shown for him was when Phoebe had said she was sorry. Yet another screw up they had made, no wonder he was such a paranoid, reclusive, neurotic little freak. She did smile slightly though. After all, her was her neurotic little freak.</p><p>"Didn't think of that." She said, as Chris entered the kitchen, looking around edgily, Wyatt cooing happily in his arms.</p><p>"Hey buddy." Piper said, kissing her son's forehead, then her other son's cheek.</p><p>"Sorry about that, she's just..." Chris said sheepishly, but Phoebe shook his head.</p><p>"It's ok honey. And we do know that she is ever so slightly annoying." She admitted, and Chris grinned, having gotten his mother to admit the same thing about her not that long ago.</p><p>"What's with the twenty questions though? She's like Dan, just as nosy as he is. I swear if she gets her dad to check up on me again, there will be issues." He said darkly, sitting at the table with Wyatt, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"Somehow I doubt her father can check up on anyone anymore. With a little help from your father, Darryl arrested him for perverting the course of justice, and when his bosses found out what he'd been digging around in people's files for his brother, and also that he did Dan's assault charge from the police, he was kicked out pretty quickly. Serves him right too." She said firmly, beginning to wash the dishes.</p><p>"And the questions will be because you're the one closest to her in age." Phoebe assured him, and Chris sent a worried look back through the door.</p><p>"I'm worried she fancies me." He said nervously, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"Yeah, she might do, she thinks you're cute. Don't worry honey, I'll protect you from the big bad teenager." She said teasingly, and he glowered at her reproachfully.</p><p>"Mom, think about it. For a start, she's Dan's niece. She's annoying. She's both too old and too young for me all at once. I doubt she'd be able to cope with magic, not without blabbing about it. And to top it off, she has a really intense stare, it makes me feel uncomfortable." He moaned, and Piper stroked his hair fondly.</p><p>"Look, I'm not advocating that you should encourage her, I don't want you dating her. In fact, it would probably be best if you took a vow of celibacy as soon as you're born." She mused, and Chris rolled his eyes in amusement.</p><p>"Don't worry mom, I was the good boy, I waited until after I was legally of age before I had sex for the first time. Wyatt killed her not long afterwards mind you. And he was actually sorry, he was aiming for a demon, but it turns out the demon had a shield. She didn't stand a chance." Chris reminisced painfully, and Phoebe felt a flicker of hurt as he recounted it.</p><p>Piper however had other matters on her mind.</p><p>"Wait, Wyatt had sex illegally?" she asked, and Chris hesitated, before nodding.</p><p>"Well yeah. I mean, he had proclaimed himself Emperor, the police were hardly going to come and give him a ticking off when he could obliterate them with a flick of his hand. Especially with what he did to the FBI building, he destroyed it with a sonic screaming power he stole, crushed virtually the entire lot of them inside." Chris said darkly, and Piper shuddered, hating when Chris told her all these things about the future.</p><p>She hadn't thought she would ever miss his 'future consequences' response, but sometimes, when she heard about what sort of a powerful, all encompassing evil her son had become in the future, she wished he would just reply with that instead of letting her in on all her son's crimes.</p><p>"Any other delightful things he did you want to share with us?" Phoebe asked, as Paige entered.</p><p>"Jenny thinks you don't like her." She said in amusement, pouring herself and Chris another glass of white wine.</p><p>"Well, she might be right." Chris said irritably, and she gave him a scolding look.</p><p>"Chris, she's a harmless kid, would it kill you to be nice to her?" she asked, and he glowered back at her.</p><p>"She may be a harmless kid, but she's still irritating. I'm sorry Paige, but I don't like her. Besides, I'm six years older than her on one end, and I'm not even conceived at the other, so she's sixteen years older than me. And I didn't come here to be fancied, especially not by some sixteen your old girl." He said, and she smiled softly.</p><p>"Alright, I suppose so. And no, I'm not trying to match make. Just, take it easy ok? I know it's making you uncomfortable and I know what Dan nearly did to you, but still, she is a teenager and I don't need my new roommate whining 'he loves me, he loves me not' while she's staying here." She said and Chris grinned.</p><p>"Alright, I'll apologise to her if it makes you happy. But if she falls for me, that's her problem, because it won't get her anywhere." He warned, and she nodded, grinning.</p><p>"And even if she does fall for him, it won't matter anyway, we think it'll be best if he takes a vow of celibacy." Piper said, and Chris rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Mom, I am not going to practice celibacy, no matter what you say. And besides, Wyatt's the one who should, if you ask me he's a sex addict." Chris said petulantly.</p><p>"Don't worry, I'll make sure he's celibate too." Piper said absently, and Phoebe and Chris shook their heads behind her back.</p><p>Jenny then entered the room, looking interestedly at Chris. He hid a grimace and figured he might as well get it over with.</p><p>"Look Jenny, I'm sorry about dinner, I just don't like people poking around in my past. I have secrets and things I like to keep private, and my life and my past are two of those things. Ok?" he asked, and the sisters all exchanged looks with each other, knowing full well he was having a subtle go at them too.</p><p>"That's ok, I guess I was a little full on. Can I hold Wyatt?" she asked brightly, and Chris looked to his mother, who nodded and he passed his brother to her, and she began talking to him in a baby voice.</p><p>But despite that, she still kept her eye on Chris as he moved about the kitchen, putting dishes away, with Piper looking at him fondly, and for some reason extolling the benefits of celibacy to him.</p><p>XX</p><p>Chris was rather reluctant to wake up the next morning. Since they had found out who he was, Piper had insisted he stay in the house, and as such, she had moved the recliner from her room into Wyatt's room and made it up as his bed, so that he was always close to his big brother. And he had to admit, the recliner was a lot comfier than the couch in P3, and considering this was the room he had grown up living in, he didn't mind at all, other than the fact that Wyatt would wake up sometimes in the middle of the night, either needing him for his mother to deal with him, but he could cope with that.</p><p>He yawned widely and opened his eyes, and jumped back, closer to the backrest of the couch as he saw Jenny staring down at him, her wide protuberant eyes fixed on his bare chest.</p><p>"Hi, sorry, I was looking for the bathroom!" she said cheerfully, and he pulled his covers up to hide his modesty.</p><p>"Wrong door, it's the one opposite." He said warily, and she thanked him and practically skipped out of the room.</p><p>How long had she been standing there? Had it simply been an honest mistake? Had Wyatt been fussing and had she came in to see him? Or, was she standing there, staring at his half naked body like some sort of creepy stalker? Chris shook his head, he knew he was being silly. At most, she was a girl with a crush, and there wasn't much she could do to him anyway.</p><p>Still, he thought darkly, playing with Wyatt's teddy to make his brother giggle, the sooner she was out of here, the better.</p><p>XX</p><p>"I woke up and she was staring at me." Chris told his mother, who frowned slightly in concern.</p><p>"She probably just got lost on her way to the bathroom, took the wrong door or something." Piper assured him, and he shrugged, brushing his hair with his fingers self consciously.</p><p>"Yeah maybe. I know I'm being paranoid, I'm sorry." He said softly, and she touched his cheek.</p><p>"Sweetie, I can hardly blame you. After we first found out we were witches, and because my boyfriend at the time was our first ever vanquish, I couldn't look at men for ages, even delivery guys I ran up the stairs, Prue and Phoebe kept laughing at me. I can't blame you for being spooked honey." She said, as Jenny entered.</p><p>"Hi Chris. Sorry about earlier. Cool tattoo you have though!" she said brightly, and Chris made a panicked noise in his throat as his mother turned to him expectantly.</p><p>"You have a tattoo?" she demanded angrily, and he rolled his eyes, and Jenny looked at him nervously.</p><p>"Oh, did she not know you had one?" she asked worriedly, and Chris ground his teeth and shook his head.</p><p>"No, she didn't, and I'd have preferred it stayed that way." He said, and Jenny blushed with embarrassment.</p><p>"Oh, sorry." She said sheepishly.</p><p>"How could you get yourself a tattoo?" Piper demanded sternly, and Chris rolled his eyes.</p><p>"You have them, Phoebe has them, so does Paige! And I'm surprised you didn't know, it's on my shoulder, you would have seen it when you found me." He said, and she was looking at him expectantly, and he pulled down his tshirt to show her the tattoo on the top of his shoulder, a pentagram surrounded by what looked like an exploding sun.</p><p>"Well honey, I was a little more concerned with the fact that you were legally dead at the time. Why would you do that to yourself?" she demanded, and he grinned, about to take the wind out of her sails.</p><p>"It prevent demonic possession." He answered smartly, and she gasped in slight surprise.</p><p>"You guys believe in that stuff?" Jenny asked, and they both nodded.</p><p>"Well, I suppose that's alright then." Piper said, and Chris crouched to her ear.</p><p>"Hypocrite." He muttered, and she shot him a fond, scolding look.</p><p>"I'm your mother, I'm entitled to be. But I suppose if it works I can't complain, and you do sort of suit it." She muttered, and he grinned triumphantly.</p><p>"Alright Chris, I'm fighting fit and ready to find this demon...stration!" Paige said nervously as she saw that Jenny was in the kitchen.</p><p>"Another demonstration? Are you like one of those anti-government types?" Jenny asked excitedly, and Chris looked at her incredulously.</p><p>"No I'm not, it's an animal rights convention we're helping to set up. Protect the penguins and all that." Chris said, and Paige grinned.</p><p>"Cool, can I come?" Jenny asked, and Piper grimaced.</p><p>"Um, no, we're just setting up today, we don't even see any of the animals today, it's all office work." Chris invented wildly, and Jenny pouted.</p><p>"Oh, alright then." She said and slouched off to the living room.</p><p>"God, she's like syphilis." Chris muttered under his breath, and Piper laughed in spite of herself.</p><p>"Alright, be careful while you're out there. Paige, be careful, and if there's one too long hair out of place on his head," Piper said, and Chris shook his head in exasperation, "then you and me, issues." She warned her sister, and Paige shot her a dirty look.</p><p>"He will be fine. Aren't you going to give him the opposite warning?" she demanded, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"Nah. Son trumps sister honey, sorry." She said teasingly, and Paige threw an apple at her, which Piper froze.</p><p>"Thanks mom." Chris said, smiling, and took Paige's hand and dragged her from the kitchen before she got into a fight she had no chance of winning.</p><p>XX</p><p>Jenny was bored. Phoebe was at work, Paige and Chris were at this convention thing, and Piper and Wyatt had nipped out to the shops. Meaning she was in the house on her own, and liked Chris though she did, there was only so long that she could daydream about him. Bored, she decided to go and make herself some lunch.</p><p>When she entered the kitchen, she saw the massive fridge freezer, and hoping for some ice cream, she opened the freezer, and was surprised by what she saw, strange Tupperware boxes marked with strange things. Pulling them out, she saw them marked with things like rabbits blood, sea slugs and pigs feet. What sort of weird dinners was Piper planning on making with stuff like that, especially with the slugs?</p><p>Jenny was curious. She knew Piper was a great chef, and from what the sisters had been saying last night, Chris was too. So, she could conceivably cook something like pig's trotters or something like that. But the rabbit's blood and the sea slugs, they were a different matter all together. Jenny took the sea slugs out of the freezer, pondering what she could possibly make with them. After all, the French ate snails, why not slugs?</p><p>She found a large frying pan, and put a little oil in the pan, and began warming it up. Piper had said that she could cook herself something, so she would try and cook a slug, see what it tasted like and then if she liked it, she could cook more of them. She figured the oil should be hot enough by now, and threw a slug into the pan, and smiled as it gave a satisfying sizzle.</p><p>The doorbell rang, and Jenny cursed, dashing through to the foyer to go and answer it.</p><p>"Yeah, can I help you?" Jenny asked the salesman at the door.</p><p>"Are you the homeowner?" he asked jovially, and she gave him an unimpressed look.</p><p>"Do I look like the homeowner?" she asked irritably, and his smile faltered.</p><p>"Well is the owner of the house in?" he asked, and she shook her head.</p><p>"No, she's out to the shops, she won't be back until later." She said, and the man nodded.</p><p>"Alright, then I'll come back later then." He said, and she bid him goodbye before shutting the door and heading back through to the kitchen.</p><p>And as she did so, she saw the room filling with smoke, and fire leaping from the frying pan.</p><p>"No, oh no!" she shrieked, running to the sink, and filling up a glass of water, throwing it into the pan, but that only caused more vapour into the air, filling the room with steam as well as smoke.</p><p>The kitchen was getting unbearably hot, and Jenny was afraid, afraid she was going to burn down the beautiful house, when Piper was trusting her to look after herself for a little while.</p><p>"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she cursed, and grabbed a hold of the pan and threw it into the sink but there was still fire blazing from it, and she was faced with no choice, and ran for the phone, dialling the fire brigade, hoping it would be over before Piper got back.</p><p>XX</p><p>Piper pulled into the driveway, taking note of the fire engine that was parked outside the house, and as she saw where the hose was pointed, she was immediately filled with a feeling of trepidation as she saw that it was headed inside for her own home.</p><p>"Oh dear, come on honey, let's see what happened." She said, and picked up her son, rushing towards the house.</p><p>What had happened? She had only left Jenny for an hour, what could have gone wrong in such a short space of time? But what if a demon had attacked, how the hell would they get out of that one? She dashed up the stairs, and saw the hose heading into the kitchen and quickly ran through, and relaxed slightly as she saw that Jenny was alright.</p><p>"Oh Piper, I'm so sorry!" Jenny said tearfully as she entered, and saw the cause of the problem.</p><p>A fireman was pulling a cremated frying pan out of the sink, smiling slightly.</p><p>"What happened?" Piper asked, assuring herself that Jenny was alright.</p><p>"I was trying to make myself a snack, the door went, I only left the room for a couple of minutes, and when I came back the thing was on fire, I couldn't put it out, I'm so sorry." Jenny said sadly, and Piper shook her head.</p><p>"It's ok sweetie, as long as you're alright, it could happen to anyone." She assured her, and then took a double take as she saw who the fireman was.</p><p>"Gregg?" she asked in shock, seeing a fireman who she had dated for a few weeks before they had drifted apart, and then of course Dan had come along, and everything has changed.</p><p>"How you been?" he asked, smiling at her shyly, and she blushed.</p><p>"Um, yeah I'm good, you?" she asked, and he shrugged.</p><p>"Can't complain. Jenny's alright, she didn't hurt herself, and I opened the windows to get rid of the smell. Hey Wyatt." He said, smiling at the baby.</p><p>"I'm so sorry Piper." Jenny said miserably, but Piper patted her shoulder.</p><p>"It's ok sweetie. What were you trying to cook anyway?" she asked, and Jenny scuffed her feet.</p><p>"I was experimenting, I found sea slugs in your freezer, and I thought you might be able to eat them, like the French do snails." She said, and Piper blanched.</p><p>What the hell else had the girl discovered while she had left her alone? Piper was just thankful that she had had the foresight to lock the attic door before she left, and was seriously beginning to wonder about this living arrangement. She could hardly have Jenny snooping around the house and finding their magical ingredients.</p><p>"Sea slugs?" Gregg asked in confusion, and Piper had to do some very quick thinking.</p><p>"Yeah, sea slugs, I had some smart assed patrons and I was going to tell them they were anchovies." She invited wildly.</p><p>Jenny seemed to accept this answer, but Gregg was still looking at her incredulously.</p><p>"Well what about the rabbit's blood and the pig's feet?" Jenny asked, and Piper hissed. Chris was right, she really didn't know when to shut the hell up.</p><p>"I'm thinking of making black pudding, and then stuffing it into pig's feet." She said, and just then, she was saved the trouble of answering as Paige and Chris orbed right into the hallway, and Piper hissed and froze both Jenny and Gregg in a panic.</p><p>"What's going on?" Paige asked nervously, seeing the fireman and the frozen girl in the kitchen.</p><p>"Jenny had a bit of an accident and is trying her hardest to expose us, she went exploring in the freezer." Piper said through clenched teeth.</p><p>"Uh-oh, am I in trouble?" Paige asked worriedly, and Chris shook his head.</p><p>"Not as much trouble as Jenny is. I told you we couldn't have her staying here." He growled at her, and Paige at least had the good grace to look ashamed of herself.</p><p>"Did you get the demons?" Piper asked, and Paige nodded, just as Wyatt began to cry, and his orb shield suddenly enveloped him, his brother and his mother, as a demon shimmered in, just as the kitchen unfroze.</p><p>"Crap!" Piper cursed, freezing the room again, as the demon fired a light dart at them, which bounced off Wyatt's shield and into a plant pot.</p><p>Chris turned and flicked Gregg and Jenny to the floor, hoping they wouldn't unfreeze, while Paige orbed out of the way of another light dart. Chris then orbed a knife across the room, catching the demon in the throat, and he vanished in a blaze of flames, just as Gregg and Jenny unfroze.</p><p>"Whoa, what happened?" Jenny asked in shock, sitting up and looking around at the destroyed plant pot, and at her and Gregg sitting on the floor.</p><p>"There was a..." Piper said hesitantly, thankful that Wyatt's shield had dropped before anyone had seen it.</p><p>"Short in the toaster, and it pinged and took out the plant pot, and Gregg tackled Jenny to the floor before it hit her." Chris said smoothly, and she had to admit, keeping secrets from them had turned him into an accomplished liar.</p><p>"Wow, thanks." Jenny said, impressed.</p><p>"But I don't..."</p><p>"So that's it, everything's ok? I promise we'll get a new toaster first thing tomorrow." Paige said, clearly trying to usher Gregg out of the house, and Chris looked urgently to his mother, who regretfully fired a small blast at the toaster to keep their cover.</p><p>The door then opened, announcing the return of Phoebe.</p><p>"Whoa, who burnt the po-"</p><p>"Phoebe! Hi!" Piper cried, blocking out the rest of her sister's question, and Phoebe's eyes widened as she came into the kitchen and saw the mess.</p><p>"What happened here?" Phoebe asked in a voice of forced calm.</p><p>"Wow, I could swear the toaster didn't look like this a second ago." Gregg said.</p><p>"Is everything alright now though?" Piper asked, and Gregg nodded.</p><p>"Um yeah, the fire's out, no one got hurt, and the only damage is your plantpot. Want me to take your toaster?" he asked, and she nodded.</p><p>"Ok Gregg, thanks for stopping by." Piper said, walking him to the door, while Chris, Paige and Phoebe all turned to fix Jenny with lethal gazes.</p><p>"Would it help if I said I'm sorry?" she asked nervously.</p><p>XX</p><p>Gregg frowned as he climbed back in to the firetruck. Something clearly wasn't right at Piper's house. Why on earth would she have slugs and things inside her freezer? And why did everyone suddenly appear different, as if time had stood still for a few seconds, and where had her sister and the kid come from? And he had been sure he had seen some sort of blue bubble in the room, and he definitely didn't remember pushing Jenny out of the way of the so called exploding toaster, which didn't look as though it had shorted, it looked as though someone had tried to blow it up and had mostly succeeded. The entire thing was strange, and it was creepy.</p><p>Gregg fingered the cross he wore round his neck, beneath his wavy black hair. Something was definitely wrong in that house, he just couldn't place his finger on it. People appeared from nowhere, weird accidents, suddenly changing positions and winding up on the floor, it was all very mysterious.</p><p>He remembered back to his studies as Sunday school, when reading the Malleus Malificarum. Witches, if he remembered his studies correctly, used strange things in spells and potions, and it had sounded like Phoebe had been about to say something like potions when she had entered the house. Strange things in the freezer, strange accidents, people suddenly appearing...could it be that the warnings from school were right? That there were dark forces out there, in league with the devil?</p><p>Gregg scoffed. Piper and her sisters seemed so nice...mind you, she had kept disappearing when they had been together, and had often suddenly changed at a second's notice. And there was that blue bubble he had seen out of the corner of his eye, and he was sure that the toaster had been fine after the boy had said it had shorted out, and a second later it had turned into its present state. Surely they couldn't be involved in things that went against the word of God? They couldn't be in league with the devil, the entire idea was just preposterous.</p><p>Either way, Gregg was determined to keep an eye on things at the Halliwell manor. He still liked Piper and her sisters, and he didn't want an accident befalling them. But either way, the presence of those things in her freezer were enough to make anyone slightly suspicious. He knew something was wrong. And if the Halliwells were indeed witches, then it was his duty as a member of his congregation to report it. Witches could not be tolerated, they spread mistrust and lies, sealing pacts with the devil by having sex with him, pledging their souls to further his darkness.</p><p>No, he would keep a close watch. After all, if they were witches, he would have to make sure to bring them back to God's guidance...or expose them in the process.</p><p>Touching his cross for comfort, he pulled away from the manor.</p><p>XX</p><p>"I'm really sorry." Jenny said sadly as the four Halliwells entered the kitchen to discuss things, closing the door behind them.</p><p>"She has to go." Chris said firmly, and Piper was slightly inclined to agree.</p><p>"Chris, she's just a kid, she made a mistake, it wasn't her fault the pan caught fire." Paige said patiently, but Chris shook his head.</p><p>"That's not what worries me aunt Paige. Why the hell was she going nosing in the freezer? She could have gotten us exposed, she's clearly just as nosy as her uncle is, and that could be dangerous." He said in concern, and Phoebe frowned.</p><p>"Look, I know you don't particularly like having her around Chris, but she made an honest mistake, and we got away with it didn't we?" Phoebe asked, and Piper nodded.</p><p>"Yes we did, but it was far too close. And the demon could have killed her, and that would have been difficult to explain wouldn't it?" she asked, and Chris nodded.</p><p>"Exactly. And that doesn't even mention the fact that she was trying to cook slugs. I mean, come on, how dumb is she?" he muttered, and the three of them did have to give him that.</p><p>"And if she is as nosy and interfering as Dan, then what if she strolls into the attic and finds the book?" Phoebe asked grimly, and that was also a point.</p><p>"Well, we can still keep her around, we just can't leave her on her own, that's all. We can't just throw out an innocent kid onto the street, not after we told her to live with us." Paige said, and then saw the reproachful look in Chris' eyes, and she knew full well what was playing over in his mind.</p><p>Chris looked pleadingly at his mother, who sighed.</p><p>"You're both right. She can't be left on her own, clearly, but we can hardly throw her out on the street." She said, ignoring the sad look on Chris' face.</p><p>Yeah, but you can throw me out when Dan says so, he thought miserably.</p><p>"So what do we do?" Paige asked, and Piper heaved a breath.</p><p>"She can stay. But," she said, cutting Chris off as he protested, "she can't be left alone anymore, and only until the weekend, then Paige can take her home." She said, and looked at her son, begging him to accept the compromise.</p><p>He looked at his aunts, and saw Paige willing to accept it, and Phoebe didn't seem inclined to argue, so he nodded irritably.</p><p>"Alright fine. But if she does anything else that might expose us, she has to go? Please?" he begged, flashing his puppy dog eyes at his mother, and Phoebe and Paige smiled as she immediately crumbled.</p><p>"Agreed." She said, and they headed back through to Jenny.</p><p>XX</p><p>"So I can still stay here?" Jenny asked brightly, and Piper nodded.</p><p>"Yes Jenny, but only until the end of the week." She said firmly, and Jenny hugged Piper happily.</p><p>"Thank you! I thought you were going to throw me out! Sorry I almost wrecked your kitchen." She said, and Chris eyed her warily.</p><p>"Just stick to soup next time." He said, and she nodded in agreement.</p><p>"When are you making the black pudding?" Jenny asked eagerly, earning Piper a strange look from her sisters.</p><p>"Next month, the blood needs to lose some toxins first." She explained, and the girl seemed to buy it.</p><p>Dinner returned the atmosphere mostly to normal, though Chris kept a wary eye on Jenny all the same, but she seemed less interested in him tonight than she had been, which suited him. But still, by simply trying to cook something she should never have been trying to cook anyway, she had almost set the house on fire, discovered their private business and had also risked exposure, all in one afternoon. He might have been being irrational, but now he wasn't so sure when he considered all the trouble she had caused. He had told the girls she could be trouble.</p><p>But he supposed she was a kid, whose parents were absent a lot, and he could relate to that, she didn't even have any other close family members to help guide her, so he supposed he should cut her some slack, which he would do provided she kept the lustful glances to a minimum.</p><p>As his mother and aunts cleaned things off the table, she approached him shyly.</p><p>"Are you still mad at me?" she asked uncertainly, and he shook his head.</p><p>"No, it's just, you could have gotten someone hurt." He said diplomatically, but her grin brightened, thinking he was concerned about her welfare rather than being worried about the possibility of exposure and the damage it could have done to his home, mother and brother.</p><p>"I'm sorry, it was stupid, what I did. Would they even taste nice?" she asked, and Chris snorted.</p><p>"Somehow I doubt it." He said, stretching his body slowly, freeing up his joints.</p><p>It had been a good day's vanquishing, and doing it with Paige while she was in her prime was great fun, they had wiped out a load of nasties, and the only blip was the one that had followed them back here, and despite the chaos that had been dealt with relatively easily.</p><p>"Is that tshirt one of the things you bought yesterday?" Jenny asked curiously, eyeing his dark green tshirt which accented his eyes, and he shook his head.</p><p>"No, it's an old one, mo-Piper wanted to iron them first before I wore any of the stuff I got yesterday." He said, heading through to the living room, hoping he could find something interesting to watch for a change. Past tv was good, he knew that, but he was either too late or too early for all the shows he really liked, and it was irritating to the extreme.</p><p>"Sorry about this morning, me and my big mouth." Jenny said sheepishly, sitting down on the couch beside him. Chris suppressed a grimace, he'd been hoping she would go and help the others in the kitchen.</p><p>"It's ok, Piper's just really overprotective of me that's all, she doesn't want me doing anything too extreme." He said with a small smile, and she shrugged, then looked at him curiously.</p><p>"Did you have hair gel in one of your bags yesterday?" she asked in interest, and he shook his head, praying she would suddenly lose her voice.</p><p>Why was this girl so interested in what he looked like? Yes he had a few cosmetics and he'd bought some clothes, but he had also bought books that would most likely establish him as a nerd, why couldn't she ask about them, it might get her off his back.</p><p>"No, I had wax, why?" he asked politely, wishing she would shut up and leave him alone.</p><p>"I'm just trying to imagine how you would do your hair. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'd suit it." She said earnestly, smiling and edging a little closer to Chris, who had his eyes closed in irritation and didn't notice.</p><p>"I style it back and to the side, it sort of makes my hair look naturally slicked back." He explained reluctantly, and she smiled at the thought of how nice he would look.</p><p>"Bet you have a girlfriend." She said teasingly, and he shook his head, ignoring the painful memories that conjured.</p><p>"Not anymore. She died." He said bluntly, hoping she would shut up when she realised that was a painful subject.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry. Second time today my mouth's gotten me into trouble." She said nervously, wondering why he was so closed off from her. He seemed open with the girls, but she was a girl, why wouldn't he talk to her?</p><p>Only the second, Chris thought in dark amazement, he figured it must be some kind of new record for her.</p><p>"Did Gregg really push me out of the way?" she asked softly, closing the distance between them even more, but as he was focused on the TV he didn't notice.</p><p>"Yes." Chris said, his tone inviting no reply, but she gave him one anyway.</p><p>"I wish it would have been you. I'd love it if you were my knight in shining armour." She said, and he turned to look at her incredulously, and as he did so, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.</p><p>Chris pulled away from her, leaping to the side of the bed and looking at her in alarm, while she looked up at him in shock.</p><p>"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded angrily, wiping his lips to get rid of the taste of cherry lip gloss, he hated cherry.</p><p>"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I thought, well, I..." she said, hurt tears of rejection streaming into her eyes, and before Chris could say anything else, she leapt to her feet, gave a dramatic sob, and ran up the stairs, howling.</p><p>Chris stood in the same spot, thoroughly confused, weirded out and repulsed, and then looked at where she had disappeared.</p><p>"Uh oh. That can't be good." He said uncertainly, as his mom and aunts came in from the kitchen, their faces demanding an explanation.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So Jenny, as we could have predicted, is just as annoying and obnoxious as she was when she was in the show, and was also not very bright sadly. But just what do her actions mean?</p><p>And Gregg (no offence meant by his portrayal but the whole holier than thou thing really hacks me off) is now on the watch too</p><p>The story continues next chapter!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Piper makes an error of judgement, and Gregg and Jenny come perilously close to the truth</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Present Mistakes</p><p>"It wasn't my fault!" Chris protested as his aunts and mother all looked at him sceptically.</p><p>"Chris, Jenny just ran past us, sobbing her heart out. What did you do?" Phoebe asked in exasperation, and he grunted in exasperation.</p><p>"Asked her what the hell she was doing when she kissed me!" he yelled, and they stopped looking at him sceptically or with irritation and looked at him in surprise.</p><p>"Wait, she kissed you?" Piper demanded, her hands flexing.</p><p>"Yes. One minute we were just walking, I was wanting her to the shut up and the next thing I know she's kissing me! I got up and demanded what the hell she was doing, she went all menstrual and ran up the stairs." He said, not at all liking the look in his mother's eyes, the one that would make demons run if they saw it.</p><p>"Did you lead her on?" Phoebe asked, and he glowered at her.</p><p>"Of course I didn't lead her on! She's only sixteen, I don't like her, I'm not here to get girlfriends of any age and considering how my last relationship ended with my big brother killing the woman who I loved, who also happened to betray me, I'm not really inclined to go for any sort of relationship right now." He grumbled.</p><p>"Alright, just calm down. I'll go and talk to Jenny ok?" Paige said, leaving Chris with his mother and aunt.</p><p>"Are you sure you didn't lead her on sweetie?" Phoebe asked, and he shot her a filthy look, which she retreated from slightly.</p><p>"Yes, I'm sure. She kissed me, not the other way around. Not my fault if she's an overemotional teenager." He growled.</p><p>"Maybe you did it without meaning to. After all, she is still pretty young, she probably doesn't know all the signs yet." Phoebe said, and Chris shook his head.</p><p>"Phoebe, I did nothing to lead her on! Trust me, I wouldn't, because I am seriously not interested. And if she doesn't know the sign 'shut up and leave me alone', than that isn't because she's young, that's because she's stupid! I was barely acknowledging her, barely talking to her and effectively blocking her out, and she seemed to take that as a signal to kiss me, which it isn't!" he shouted, and Phoebe rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Couldn't you at least treat her gently, she's probably quite new to this. And for the record, girls don't like it when guys jump up mid kiss." She said tartly, and he shook his head in frustration.</p><p>"Guys don't like it when girls kiss them when they're seriously not interested." He said waspishly.</p><p>"She actually kissed you?" Piper asked weakly, wanting to blow the girl up all of a sudden, and Chris grinned as he saw the horrified, protective expression on his mother's face.</p><p>"Yes mom she did. Why, you want to go and vanquish her?" he asked with a grin.</p><p>"Don't tempt me." She grumbled, and Phoebe looked at him irritably.</p><p>"Chris, she's just a kid, she likes you and she got carried away. There was no need to be quite so cruel about it." She scolded, and Chris' temper flared, his hackles rising.</p><p>"Phoebe, she kissed me! I wanted to get away from her because I don't like her, and she realised I didn't and ran off, what was I supposed to do!"</p><p>"Oh I don't know, maybe realise she's a kid going through changes and be a little bit nice to her?" Phoebe asked sarcastically, and Piper glowered at her sister.</p><p>"Phoebe, the point is she shouldn't have kissed him anyway when he had made it perfectly clear that he wasn't interested. And he's put up with her, but I have to agree with him, kissing him crosses the line." She said plainly, and Phoebe rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Well of course you'd believe that, he's your son, you'd rather no one ever kissed him." She said snottily, and Piper did have to concede that point.</p><p>"Phoebe, I was shocked and revolted, what would you have done if it was a guy who kissed you and you really didn't want him to?" Chris asked irritably, and she looked at him in the eyes.</p><p>"I'd force him off gently." She said, and both he and Piper scoffed.</p><p>"The hell you would." Piper said derisively.</p><p>No, you would slap him, and so you should count your blessings that I didn't slap her for what she did. I really don't like her, I didn't want her to kiss me, I didn't lead her on or signal her in any way that says 'come on and snog me', I thought it would be obvious from the way I was treating her that I didn't particularly like her being around, and she still comes on and kisses me!" he yelled angrily, and Phoebe shook her head.</p><p>"Look Chris, I'm not saying she didn't do wrong, but reacting the way you did really upset her, it was cruel." She said, and Chris looked away.</p><p>"Alright, I might not have handled it all well, but still..." he said as Paige came down the stairs, looking worried.</p><p>"Well, she thinks you hate her and she's decided she wants to leave and never come back because she feels so stupid and think she's screwed everything up. Good job!" she said mockingly to Chris, and this too angered him.</p><p>"Why am I suddenly the bad guy?" he demanded.</p><p>"Because you're the older one and should perhaps be a little nicer?" Phoebe asked tightly, and he glowered.</p><p>"Oh, and you were no nice to me even though you three are three grown up, mature and sophisticated adults?" he asked angrily, and all three of them winced.</p><p>Good, he thought savagely, as they all looked guilty and sheepish.</p><p>"And for the record, aside from Bianca, I didn't really have many girlfriends in the future, and she's probably about the fourth girl I've kissed, because Wyatt either stole them, turned them or killed them. A world gone to hell doesn't offer many romantic opportunities. And then the one girl you do fall for stabs you in the back. Or the chest, as the case was." He muttered, and the two aunts did look guilty.</p><p>"She really wants to leave?" Piper asked, taking charge before this got any uglier.</p><p>"Yeah, and she never wants to kiss a boy again either." Paige said, rolling her eyes at the drama that was unfolding upstairs.</p><p>"You that bad a kisser?" Phoebe asked with a small smile, trying to get her nephew to lighten up a little, but it didn't work, and besides, his mother answered for him.</p><p>"Of course he isn't, I'm sure he's a brilliant kisser like his father." She said firmly, ignoring the shocked look Chris gave her.</p><p>"Well if she wants to leave, I say we let her." Chris said, and Piper was slightly inclined to agree, it would mean her son wouldn't have to be worried about some damn fool teenager kissing him in his own home.</p><p>"Chris, we can't just throw her out onto the street, we invited her to live with us." Paige said patiently.</p><p>"She's right. Not her fault you didn't cope very well with her throwing herself at you." Phoebe said, and it finally clicked what was going on here.</p><p>"Wait a minute, this isn't about who did what at all! This is because I'm a guy, and she's a girl, so I'm automatically the bad guy! She kissed me, but no, it's all my fault because I didn't let her do it, despite me not wanting to kiss her! Doesn't that matter to you guys? I was the one who was kissed against my will, I didn't lead the silly girl on, she did it all herself. But I'm still the bad guy even when it's obvious she's the one who did wrong! You're as bad as Grams, I'm a guy, so I'm obviously the one who screwed up, she wasn't the one who kissed me on her own will and on her idea, I clearly led her on. Ever think she may be the sole person to blame? I didn't want to kiss the silly girl!" he snapped.</p><p>"Chris, this isn't because you're a guy...though a girl might show a bit more sensitivity." Paige said scathingly, and Chris suddenly unconsciously sent a vase hurtling through the air, smashing against the wall.</p><p>"Hey! Enough! Phoebe, Paige, back off! Jenny's the one who kissed Chris, he says he didn't lead her on, so she's the one who made the mistake. And Chris, we don't think you're in the wrong just because you're a guy, and calm down or you'll wake up your brother." Piper said softly to her son, who was still glowering at the outside world, breathing heavily, trying to get his telekinesis back under control.</p><p>"Jenny says he did." Paige said quietly, and Chris turned to her in a fury, his green eyes narrowing, and Paige was again struck with the feeling that he was just as scary as his mother.</p><p>"What? What the hell is she saying I did?" he demanded angrily, shaking off his mother's restraining grip on his arm.</p><p>"She says you were talking about Bianca, opening up, and she was going for the comforting bit." She said patiently, and he rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Hardly. I was telling her Bianca was dead so she would hopefully shut up and leave me the hell alone, she didn't get the hint. And then she started prattling about me being her hero, I ignored her, and she kissed me." He explained, and she sighed.</p><p>"Alright, I believe you, she does seem a little distraught." She admitted.</p><p>"And delusional." Chris said bitterly.</p><p>"You still could have been nicer to her, being rejected hurts." Phoebe said coolly, and Piper grimaced as her sister foolishly left herself open to another emotional broadside.</p><p>"Yeah, try being rejected by your mother and your aunt for a smug jerk and see how good that feels." He sneered, and Phoebe winced.</p><p>"Look, she doesn't want to be in the house. Maybe you ought to just take her home." Piper said diplomatically.</p><p>After all, she was perfectly fine before Paige told her to move in here, she could be perfectly fine again, without the added distraction of Chris.</p><p>"Piper, we asked her to stay here a couple of days, we can hardly throw her out on her ear, she feels bad enough about the fire, and if we throw her out she'll just feel even worse. She thinks Chris hates her,"</p><p>"Which he does." He interrupted grouchily.</p><p>Paige rolled her eyes before continuing, "and she says she doesn't want to be around here anymore in case she causes any more trouble. Piper, we let her stay with us, we can't just chuck her out because a few things have gone wrong, the fire was an accident and Chris was a mistake." Paige said, and Chris flinched a little at her last statement, but it went ignored.</p><p>"Well, if we can't send her home, what can we do, if she's adamant about leaving? She doesn't want to stay where Chris is, so she kind of has to go home." Phoebe said, not liking the thought of a distraught teenager alone at home.</p><p>Piper thought about it. They were right, they couldn't send the girl home on her own, they couldn't just leave her high and dry after saying she could stay for a few days. She was a guest, even if she had screwed up. And Jenny had shown earlier with flying colours that she couldn't be left on her own, so where did that leave them?</p><p>Piper looked at Chris, and the idea came to her.</p><p>"Sweetie...maybe it would be best if you got out of here for a while." She said awkwardly.</p><p>That look, she was going to come to hate that look when he was growing up. The look of cold, hurt betrayal, of disbelief, with the signs of tears glistening in his eyes.</p><p>"Wait, you want me to leave?" he asked in shock, and she approached him, looking into his eyes.</p><p>"It's nothing you've done wrong sweetie, it just, it might be best. We can't leave a sixteen year old girl alone on her own, we can't just throw her out. It wouldn't be right." She said, hoping he would see the sense behind this plan, stinking though it was.</p><p>Chris glowered at her reproachfully.</p><p>"So you can throw your own son out, but not some stupid little girl, because it wouldn't be right. It wasn't right what you did to me and you did it anyway." He reminded her, anger and hurt building in his voice, and she shook her head urgently.</p><p>"Chris, baby, I'm not throwing you out, I just think it might be best if you...weren't around so much for the next few days. Just until Jenny's gone home." She said nervously, but as she had feared in her gut, Chris didn't see that as a sensible plan.</p><p>All he saw was his mother, the one who claimed to love him more than anything, was throwing him out of his own home. Again. And once more it was for someone of Dan's ilk.</p><p>"You want her to stay here over me?" he asked in a shocked, soft voice, sounding like a lost kid, and Piper shook her head, willing him to believe she wasn't throwing him out in favour of someone else.</p><p>"No sweetie, I just think it might work out better if you weren't here, it'll only be for a few days, then you can come straight back." She said, trying to wipe the hurt tears from his eyes but he took a step back, glowering at her.</p><p>"You're throwing me out again." He said, his voice angry and hurt, and she shook her head urgently.</p><p>"Chris, no, that isn't it, I'm not throwing you out..." she protested, but he wasn't listening.</p><p>"You're throwing me out. Just like you did before. Dan got rid of me, and now Jenny too. Don't worry Piper," he said angrily, and she knew he was hurt considering he was calling her by name instead of mom, "I'll leave if precious Jenny's so important to you. Mustn't upset her feelings now, as long as she's happy, as long as she's safe. Jenny comes first right? After all, she should be happy, it isn't as if she's family or anything important like that." He spat, tears on his face, and he orbed out before any of them could stop him.</p><p>"Chris, no, wait, it isn't like that!" Piper protested as he vanished, and Phoebe and Paige exchanged dark looks and bolted up the stairs to Wyatt and Chris' room.</p><p>And when they entered they found no trace that Chris even lived there, and Wyatt was looking at where his brother had disappeared miserably.</p><p>"Piper..." Paige said softly, looking at the complete absence of any sign of Chris, and Piper sighed.</p><p>"Still think it's best for him to give Jenny space?" Phoebe asked, as she and Paige looked at their sister as though she had sprouted an extra head, shocked by the fact that she had asked him to clear off when she had said Jenny was in the wrong, shocked by the fact that she had implied her son might not want to be around for a few days.</p><p>And for a kid with abandonment and trust issues already, who had been thrown out by the one he loved once before, it was never going to end well. Even if the plan did make some sense, there was only going to be one thing Chris saw, and it wasn't pretty.</p><p>His mother, taking the side of someone else, and then throwing him out of his own home all over again.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Leo!" Piper wailed the next morning, her throat sore just like her sisters, as the three of them had taken it in turns bellowing for her son, but she hadn't gotten anywhere with him, he hadn't responded to any of them. However, Jenny was back to her usual self, though she kept looking around curiously, as if expecting Chris to leap out of nowhere and reveal himself to her, forgive her for last night, and get another go.</p><p>"Leo!" Piper cried again, and he orbed in a second later, presenting her with a huge bouquet of flowers.</p><p>"Leo! Thank you." She said fondly, and kissed his cheek as she looked for a vast to put them in.</p><p>"Picked from an Amazon's garden when she wasn't looking. Do you like them?" he asked, and she nodded.</p><p>"They're lovely. But are you sure this isn't some twisted attempt to get me into bed with you?" she asked coyly, and he grinned.</p><p>"Maybe, we kind of have an incentive to do it anyway. Where is he?" Leo asked, looking around for any sign of his youngest son.</p><p>"Um...he kind of isn't here." She said sheepishly, and something in her voice awoke the strange protect Chris gene that had been birthed a few weeks ago.</p><p>"Well why not, where is he? And I'm surprised at you, I didn't expect you to let him out of your sight now you know who he is." He said teasingly, and she looked at her shoes in embarrassment, and a feeling of trepidation entered Leo.</p><p>"Piper, where is Chris?" he asked suspiciously, and she pouted.</p><p>"I don't know. I made a stupid mistake Leo, and I really regret it, I didn't stop to think how it would seem to him, and now he isn't answering any of us, and Jenny keeps pestering us with questions about where he is, and I can't find him, I can't scry for him, and I'm worried!" she prattled, and he held her close, looking into her frightened eyes.</p><p>"What happened?" he asked, and she resigned herself to explaining the situation with Jenny.</p><p>By the time she had finished, Leo had let go of her, and was unhappy with her to say the least.</p><p>"Piper, how could you be so stupid? He's only just gotten over the emotional scars of the last time you kicked him out, when you chose dickhead Dan over him, and you go and do the exact same thing all over again, and to make matters worse, you do it with Dan's niece, and the crowning turd in the waterpipe, your sisters take her side, and get as sexist as your blasted grandmother and blame him simply because he's a guy! I can't blame him for running off and ignoring you, any normal person would do the same thing!" he barked in exasperation, and she hung her head.</p><p>"I know that Leo, I feel awful as it is. I just didn't think, I thought he would be alright, he would be getting away from Jenny for a few days, but it didn't once occur to me until it was too late that he would only think he was being thrown out again." She said miserably, and Leo rolled his eyes in irritation.</p><p>"Well duh." He said, and she glowered at him.</p><p>"Oh as if you've never screwed up with him." She retorted, peeved.</p><p>"I haven't thrown him out! Alright, how long is Jenny here?" he asked.</p><p>"A couple more days at least." She replied darkly, wishing she had gone with her original instincts and kicked Jenny out. Given a choice, she'd much rather have Chris staying here than Jenny. Chris was her son, and now he was out there again, all alone, because of something she had done. And while she knew full well he could take care of himself, still, she wanted him here where she knew he would be safe, where she could fuss over him, wheedle him to get a haircut, and also force him to eat more food, he was far too thin.</p><p>"So will you please find him, persuade him to talk to me?" she asked pleadingly, and he nodded, while rolling his eyes.</p><p>"Something makes me think he won't be mad at you for too long. After all, like you said, he is a mommy's boy. And now, daddy has to go and do some damage control because mommy and aunties screwed up." He said savagely, thoroughly enjoying the reversal of fortune, considering in Chris' future he was always the one that screwed up.</p><p>"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Piper asked grumpily, and he gave her a wide smile.</p><p>"Yeah, a bit. See you later." He said, preparing to orb out.</p><p>"Leo, tell him I'm sorry and I want to see him." She said softly, and he nodded.</p><p>"Basically that you love him?" he asked, and she nodded.</p><p>"Yeah." She said, and he nodded.</p><p>"Will do." He said, and was once more about to go when Piper called him back.</p><p>"And if he hasn't yet, tell him to get a haircut." She said hopefully, and Leo shook his head as he orbed out. Yep, she was going to drive Chris crazy.</p><p>XX</p><p>As Leo had suspected, Chris was in the underworld. But when he finally caught up with his younger son, the change from the last time he had found him down here was rather remarkable. Last time he had been broken hearted and despondent, willing to just give up and unsure of himself, his fight totally sapped. This time however, his fight was in overdrive, as he was flinging potions and fireballs around, vanquishing a nest of demons with very little effort. The last one gave a weak groan and Chris flicked him into the wall, and with a last burst of fire, he too was gone.</p><p>"Hmm, remind me never to take your brother's side when you're growing up." Leo said, making Chris jump in fright.</p><p>"Dad, what are you doing here?" he asked in confusion, and Leo still felt the small thrill he got whenever Chris called him dad, which he also thought he was doing slightly better in than Piper was at present.</p><p>"Your mom told me what happened." Leo said, and Chris' green eyes narrowed as he sat down on the floor, and Leo sat down to join him.</p><p>"Stupid little girl. This is all Paige's fault." He said petulantly, and Leo smiled a little at the tone of his voice.</p><p>"Far be it for me to defend Paige, but she didn't know Jenny would cause so much trouble." He said mildly, but he did think that Paige should have been a bit more careful about letting any relative of the scumbag who almost murdered his son into the house, and he saw the defeated expression on Chris' face.</p><p>"Bet she didn't know mom would choose her over me either." He said quietly, his eyes hurt.</p><p>"Chris, it wasn't about that you know? Your mom didn't want it to seem like she was throwing you out." Leo said quietly, and Chris looked at him sadly.</p><p>"Well it felt like that. Look on some level, I do get it, it means little miss perfect doesn't have to see me and won't do anything else stupid. Theoretically anyway," he said scornfully, and Leo had to admit, any relative of Dan's, he too was likely to take a rather dim view of their sensibilities, especially considering she had been trying to cook sea slugs, "But dad, why should I be the one to leave? Phoebe and Paige immediately jumped down my throat, to them it was my fault, all I did was ask her what she was doing. And then mom, who's meant to be on my side, then she decides I should be the one to go so as not to upset Jenny. Maybe I'm just being stupid, but I thought it would be different now, now that you guys know who I am." Chris said, his voice sounding slightly pitched as though he had a cold, and Leo looked at him kindly.</p><p>"Chris, it is different. We're finally being nice to you, we trust you, we do what you tell us to, and you're going to have to teach me how you did that because they never listen to me," Leo said, and felt triumphant when he saw Chris smile a little, "they're getting more independent and able to go their own way, and that's down to you, and you're not living on the couch in P3 anymore like a bum." He finished brightly, then realised he perhaps should have stopped a comment earlier as Chris glared at him.</p><p>"Firstly, I am staying on the couch at P3 because I can't be in the house as it upsets that prissy little tart, and secondly, you stayed on that couch and you didn't complain then." He pointed out, and Leo grinned wistfully.</p><p>"Not all that's happened on that couch." He said, remembering, then realised who it was he was talking to as Chris wrinkled his nose.</p><p>"Oh dad! Ew, that's just gross. Come on man, I sleep there!" he protested in disgust and Leo looked at him in shame, suppressing a snigger as he did so.</p><p>"Sorry, didn't realise you were still young enough to be embarrassed by your parents opening their trap." He said, and Chris smiled a little.</p><p>"Well yeah, well I would be if I had parents back home, but here I definitely am." Chris said cheerfully, and Leo smiled.</p><p>"Sorry buddy. Look, I know you're mad at your mom and your aunts..." he said, and Chris looked at his shoes sadly, avoiding eye contact.</p><p>"I know I'm being stupid dad, but...I don't know I just thought that I wouldn't get hurt anymore, at least not intentionally, that I was around to stay...that you guys want me to stay." He mumbled softly, and Leo realised just what was bothering his son.</p><p>Here was a kid, who had lost everyone who he had ever cared about. The only person he had left to care about hated him and was continually trying to either convert or kill him, and had taken everything from him, which was what had driven Chris here to the past anyway. Once he had gotten here, the people he had loved had treated him with disdain and distrust, which had culminated in his own mother, who he was incredibly close to, throwing him out. And then all of a sudden, things had been going good for him, and in the space of one day, it must have seemed like everything had changed around on him again.</p><p>"Aww Chris, it isn't like that buddy. Your mom made a lousy call. But you are here to stay. You've only been gone a night and your mom is already freaking out about you, I didn't have the heart to tell her it was basically her own damn fault. Chris, we want you around. I know you don't have much reason to expect anything different from us considering how we used to treat you, but we actually do kind of like having you around. It's all changed now, we know who you are, what you are. You're my son, and whether you like it or not, I want you to stick around." Leo said, nudging Chris gently with his elbow, and Chris smiled.</p><p>"Thanks dad. I know I'm being stupid, it just hurt, you know, mom choosing Jenny over me, even when she knows I didn't do anything wrong and knows who I am. Getting thrown out once hurt enough. Bet I'm the only kid in existence who's made their mom throw them out twice." Chris said, still looking a bit sad.</p><p>Leo knelt in front of Chris and looked into his green eyes, which had a faint glistening of tears in them.</p><p>"Chris, your mom didn't choose her over you. She made a crappy decision, but she hasn't thrown you out. She only wanted you to get out of the house for a while until they got rid of Jenny, not from any genuine desire to see you go. Listen to me. She wasn't throwing you out, and she's worried sick. And I know that you're her son, and if anyone should have gone it should be Jenny, not you, but your mom just didn't think about that. That's all. Your mom is worried about you, she loves you, and she didn't want to make you think you weren't welcome. And if you stop visiting her, I reckon she might be a tad miffed with you." He said, smiling slightly, and Chris nodded, smiling.</p><p>"I know dad. I'm still mad at her though." He said, and Leo grinned.</p><p>"Don't blame you, I'm not her biggest fan myself right now, she isn't her biggest fan. Look, give them the cold shoulder for a few days, that'll teach them. Paige should never have let Jenny stay, Phoebe should never have taken her side, and your mom should never have asked you to go while they sorted things out. But never, ever think we don't want you. At all, because I'm getting to know you now Chris. You think you're always a problem, that everyone would be a lot happier if you weren't around. The way we've treated you before didn't really help that. You're not, you're not a problem and you're not getting in the way. Clear? Your mom and I want baby you more than anything, and if I hear you doubting that buster, you and me, issues." He said grimly, and Chris grinned.</p><p>"Thank you dad. Why couldn't the one in my time ever said that sort of stuff, rather than saying the complete opposite?" he asked, and Leo shrugged.</p><p>"Because future me is an asshole Chris. But I swear, I won't become like that." Leo vowed, and Chris nodded.</p><p>"Good. And don't worry, I'm still going to stay at P3...when there's people there." He said nervously, and Leo snorted in slight amusement. Hard to connect the guy who was vanquishing demons left, right and centre with the kid who was almost murder by his mother's boyfriend in her club.</p><p>"Good. I thought you smelled better this time round than you were last time. Keep doing modern things like showering and brushing your teeth, and you might find yourself a nice, attractive hot sweaty demon to slam." Leo said, and Chris grinned.</p><p>"Mom will kill you if she hears you encouraging me to look at girls. She's already decided Wyatt and I should take vows of celibacy." He explained to his father's confused look, and Leo shook his head.</p><p>"She's finally cracked. Mind you, if you ever get a sister I'll probably be even worse." He admitted, and Chris looked at him.</p><p>"Did mom say how long that stupid girl was staying?" he asked, and Leo nodded.</p><p>"A few days at least apparently. Look Chris, I know it stinks, she's forced you out of your own home, but it won't be for long. And at least out of the manor, you shouldn't have to see her." He pointed out, and Chris nodded.</p><p>"Yeah that is good. She's just one of those annoying teenagers, who doll themselves up to look older and act all childish and irritating, she thinks she can get somewhere just by kissing me. Idiot." He grumbled, and Leo smiled.</p><p>"Hey, she is related to Dan. Oh and by the way, your mom told me to tell you to get a haircut." He said, and Chris rolled his eyes.</p><p>"For god sake, I'm not even talking to her and I still can't get a moment's peace. I'm not getting it cut." He said stubbornly, and Leo smiled.</p><p>"Didn't think you would. Anyway it looks fine to me. Be careful if you're staying down here ok?" he asked, and Chris nodded.</p><p>"I will. And thanks dad." He said, and Leo smiled at his son and bid him goodbye to go and report to Piper.</p><p>XX</p><p>Jenny was once again bored, but she didn't want to go into the kitchen in case she caused another accident. However, she did want to do something nice for the sisters, as they had all seemed pretty down this morning. And what was more, Chris wasn't there, and she was kind of missing him.</p><p>She had been stupid last night, he hadn't been ready, she had moved too hard and too fast. He could have been a little nicer with his rejection though. Hadn't Dan always told her any boy would be lucky to have her? Not that he encouraged it of course.</p><p>But she couldn't see why Chris was so dead set against it. After all, she was nice looking, so was he. She was nice, she always wanted to help, she was chatty. So why hadn't he wanted to kiss her, had she done something wrong?</p><p>Or was it because of his ex? She didn't really see what the problem was, she was dead, she couldn't come back. There was no reason to be upset about it when a young, perfectly attractive girl was right here practically throwing herself at him.</p><p>She wanted to see Chris, but Piper had told her this morning that he had left already. She hoped she could see him later, just seeing his handsome face, his nice long hair, his slim frame and gorgeous eyes made her heart flutter.</p><p>Besides, if she wanted to make the dream of her and Chris being married come true, she would need him to appear so she could get started, after all, the more time they spent together, the easier it would be for him to fall in love with her.</p><p>The doorbell rang, once more disturbing her from her musings of marriage to Chris. Cursing, she answered the door to find Gregg, the fireman from the day before.</p><p>"Oh, hi, I never got a chance to thank you yesterday." She said, and he nodded.</p><p>"It's ok. Is anyone in? I swung by to perform a spot check on all their circuits, make sure nothing blows up again." He said with a smile, though secretly, he wanted to examine their home.</p><p>After all, witches were abominations in the eyes of the lord, and he couldn't allow the existence of witches. They were in league with the devil, and if he found proof he would use it against them to bring them to justice.</p><p>"Um no one but me I'm afraid, but you can have a look around if you want, I'm sure Piper won't mind." She said, and Gregg smiled as she allowed him into the house.</p><p>Gregg was adamant there were some strange things going on, and witchcraft could indeed be a solution, it would explain everything that had been wrong with his relationship with Piper, he had been subconsciously warned not to pursue it for fear of contamination.</p><p>He went around the house, checking the sockets, and saw some strange things. Too many herbs in the cabinets. The sea slugs, rabbits blood, pig's feet and cockle shells stored in the kitchen. Yes Piper was a chef, and he knew that, but these things presence didn't make sense.</p><p>As he worked, Jenny followed him around the house, prattling incessantly as he went through every room, and curiously found a dagger in each woman's underwear drawer, and in the baby's room he found strange crystals that formed a pentagram through the entire room. The evidence was getting more and more conclusive, he thought, followed by Jenny who was still talking, and he found he could go no further when they found the door was locked.</p><p>"Why is this door locked?" Gregg asked, wondering just what women as apparently normal but obviously strange as the sisters would have a locked attic for.</p><p>"I don't know, they won't tell me, it's probably full of really cool stuff they just don't want me to find out about. It wouldn't be so bad but it's really boring here during the day, there's nothing to do." She moaned, and Gregg grinned at her.</p><p>"Well, I still need to check the sockets. Promise not to tell Piper?" he asked, and she nodded.</p><p>He smiled smugly. After all, he was only doing his job, checking that the sockets were alright. As such, he slipped his id card down the side of the door, and after a little effort, the door latch slid, and the door opened.</p><p>Gregg began checking through the room, stepping around all of the junk, feeling slightly disappointed. He'd been so sure the Halliwells were up to something, it would explain so much, and he had already told his minister that there was a chance that there were witches in the city, and his minister had promised him every help available, he could become even more integrated into the community if he did something as big as discovering witches in league with the devil.</p><p>But as it stood, there was nothing there. The Halliwells were clearly just odd, nothing strange about them.</p><p>"Hey, look at this." Jenny said excitedly, bringing him from his reverie.</p><p>She was looking at a book, which was marked by a triquertra, and bound in a deep green cover, and Gregg smiled, knowing he had struck gold.</p><p>"Jenny, have you ever heard of a grimmoire?" he asked excitedly, getting closer to the book with a smile, raising his hands to touch it.</p><p>"No, why?" she asked curiously, and she smiled at her.</p><p>"Because I think I've discovered the reason the Halliwells are so strange. They're witches. And this is their spell book, their grimoire." He said, caressing the cover of the Book of Shadows in delight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That's not good, they've found the Book! Once again apologies for how Gregg is portrayed as a religious zealot no offence meant<br/>Is Jenny as daft as she seems, or is it all just an elaborate plot?</p><p>So what happens next, read on to find out!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Piper and Chris reconcile, but Jenny and Gregg accelerate their plans with Chris in the middle</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Present Mistakes</p><p>"So what do we do?" Jenny asked, wondering if being witches is what split up Piper and Dan, and Gregg frowned as he looked over at the book.</p><p>"We need to find out more about them, we need to chase off the sisters so we can find out more about them, find out just how evil they really are. Do I have your help?" he asked, and she nodded eagerly.</p><p>"Yeah cool, I'll help. If they are witches, does that really mean that they're evil?" she asked worriedly, and he nodded.</p><p>"Yes. To have supernatural powers, they must have entered into a pact with the devil, and that means they are heretics who must be stopped. But it will be dangerous, they might not want us to find out the truth about them, you might be in danger." Gregg warned, looking at the foul pictures of demons these witches must be working with, sowing discord and evil to further the Devil's aims and trying to bring down God's kingdom.</p><p>Jenny smiled.</p><p>"Don't worry, I can help! The girls just think I'm a stupid girl, but I'm smarter than they think! And besides, Piper seems to love Chris, but she let me stay here and got rid of him, maybe that'll be our way in." She said excitedly, and Gregg found his irritation with her vanishing.</p><p>"You got her to throw out the kid?" he asked in interest, and she nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, I was upset and she took my side. But I miss him now, I wish he was back here, he's so dreamy..." she said distractedly.</p><p>Gregg took her by the shoulder and looked at her intently.</p><p>"Jenny, you cannot become distracted! These are dangerous heretics who are trying to advance the plans of the devil, you must be careful." He said warningly, and she nodded meekly.</p><p>"Don't worry, I will. What do you need me to do?" she asked excitedly, eager to help.</p><p>After all, Dan had suddenly become insane because he had gotten back involved with Piper, and Jenny had always been annoyed with her because she always frustrated Dan when they had first gone out together. Could he have been the object of a spell gone wrong?</p><p>"My uncle was going out with Piper, and a few weeks ago he went nuts, he tried to kill Chris. Do you think she did something to him, drove him mad by accident?" she asked softly, and Gregg nodded.</p><p>"I think it's possible Jenny. They must be stopped. You never know, your uncle might get better if we stop these witches, but you'll need to be careful, they're a powerful evil and must be stopped. Can I trust you? They mustn't suspect anything, that we're on to them, or else they will try to stop us from bringing them to justice. And I can't allow that, and neither can you. Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked, and she looked up at the attractive fireman and nodded eagerly.</p><p>"Yeah. But what do we do?" she asked in interest.</p><p>Gregg smiled at her proudly.</p><p>"We try and find things out, try to find out just how dangerous they are. And if we can expose them, we ought to. Catch them in the act, see them using their powers, then we can move against them in the press and bring these people to justice for the heretics that they are. Are you ready?" he asked, and she smiled.</p><p>"Course. I want to help, this might fix uncle Dan, and then I can maybe get Chris. Do you think he's involved?" she asked, and Gregg shrugged.</p><p>"He might be, you can't let your sinful lust get in the way. But if not, we will try everything we can to free him from the sisters. Got it?" he asked with a smile, and she nodded.</p><p>"Yeah. So, we expose them as witches. I can't believe it, this is wild, they're actually real witches! Kind of cool in its own way I suppose. Witches, right beside us all that time, and now I know. This is so cool!" she said, and Gregg rolled his eyes as she began to prattle once more about how the girls had always seemed odd, and how they should have guessed they were involved in the supernatural.</p><p>She wasn't the best of accomplices but she would do. And if she was as good as she seemed to think she was with making people think she was stupid while she was actually quite clever, something he did rather doubt, then it wouldn't be long until he had them exposed for the monsters that they were.</p><p>And once he had exposed them, these heretics would be put to death the way witches ought to be.</p><p>XX</p><p>Piper looked at Wyatt as he played in his travel chair, sitting on the floor of P3. She just wished she could talk to Chris, to see him and apologise, assure him in no way that she was trying to throw him out or choosing Jenny over him. But, there was no sign of her son, and she had to go home. Not that she didn't trust Jenny in the house on her own, and she had said that they wouldn't leave her alone anymore, but she'd had to go and check up on P3, Phoebe was away venting at work and Paige was away out on a date. But the idea of Jenny in the house was making her slightly edgy.</p><p>She was just about to pick up Wyatt when Chris orbed in, looking tired and dirty, and Piper looked at him tenderly, hating the hurt look he sent in her direction.</p><p>"Sweetie, are you alright?" she asked, taking into account the soot on him, and the fact that his clothes were slightly ripped.</p><p>"Yeah I'm fine. What are you doing here?" he asked, looking like he wanted to run off.</p><p>"I do work here. And besides...I sort of implied to my son that it would be better if he stayed here, and I was wrong to do it, and I was sort of hoping that I could see me kid and make sure he didn't hate me because I was stupid." She said sheepishly, and he smiled a little.</p><p>"I don't hate you mom, it's just..."</p><p>She walked up to him and wrapped him in a hug.</p><p>"I'm sorry honey. I didn't think, I just thought it would be the best option. It never occurred to me that it would just seem to you that I was trying to throw you out again." She said softly, stroking his hair gently.</p><p>"It's ok mom." Chris said as he melted into her embrace, and she smiled as he did so. Yeah, still a mommy's boy.</p><p>She sighed, and let go.</p><p>"Right, I suppose I better get back before Jenny sets anything else on fire." She said, and he narrowed his eyes.</p><p>"I still think she could be dangerous to us mom." He warned her, and she looked at him sadly.</p><p>"Sweetie, she's just a kid."</p><p>Chris looked at her, eyes angry and fearful at the same time.</p><p>"Yeah. Wyatt was just a kid too and he took over the world and killed virtually every good thing in it." He said, and she looked at her shoes before stroking his cheek with her thumb.</p><p>"Wyatt's a different case, he's magical. She isn't, all she is, is a teenager who thinks the entire world is against her and is nosey. That's all." She said, and kissed his cheek.</p><p>"Just be careful of her mom, that's all." He warned, and she waved in response as she and Wyatt left the building.</p><p>Chris frowned. No matter what way he thought about, there was still something deeply unsettling about Jenny staying in the house, other than the fact that he had been forced out to make room for her. The sooner the stupid little girl was gone the better, he thought savagely as he went for a shower.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Piper?" Jenny asked at dinner, which Chris stayed absent for, much to Piper's dismay.</p><p>"Yeah?" she asked, trying to persuade Wyatt to eat some mushy peas.</p><p>"Know how you were talking about Chris' tattoo, and he said it warded off demonic possession? Do you guys seriously believe in that stuff?" she asked sceptically, and Piper smiled a little.</p><p>"Yeah we do, we believe in magic, is what so hard to believe?" she asked, and Jenny smiled and shook her head.</p><p>"No, not at all." She said innocently, though silently vowing to tell Gregg later on. With what they had in the attic, it was pretty obvious that they believed in magic, but she would need more proof than that, and she had to be careful, otherwise they would discover what it was she was up to.</p><p>She had to expose them, show them for what they really were, prove that Dan wasn't a bad person, and that she was clever. And if she exposed Piper and the others, Chris would be so impressed with her, he just wouldn't be able to say no, and the thought of him actually kissing her back this time was so exciting...</p><p>Smiling to herself, she continued to eat her dinner, images of Chris and her undressing one another playing in her head.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Seriously? Picked On in Prescott?" Paige asked as she entered her sister's office the next day, showing her the title of the column she had written, which was clearly a reference to Chris.</p><p>"Well yeah, I did feel bad about going all Grams on him, it isn't his fault Jenny got carried away. What are you doing here?" she asked her sister, and Paige grimaced.</p><p>"Getting away from said Jenny, she's been prattling all morning about some show she watched about kids getting magical powers and kept saying how bad it would be, she was driving me nuts, I had to get out of the house." She explained.</p><p>"Yeah, she is a bit annoying after a while, I'd rather have Chris back." Phoebe admitted, and Paige smiled slightly.</p><p>"So would I, but it's only for a day or two more before she can go home, we can get Chris back, grovel to him and everything will go back to normal." She said, and Phoebe nodded.</p><p>"I know. Have you seen Chris?" she asked, and Paige shook her head.</p><p>"No. Piper and Leo both saw him yesterday, but I don't think he's happy with any of us. After all, it must have seemed like it did before, all of us ganging up on him, and then throwing him out all over again." She said awkwardly.</p><p>"Yeah I know, Piper feels really bad, but he did talk to her at least." Paige said, just as the phone rang.</p><p>"Hello." Phoebe said, and heard Piper breathing slightly heavy.</p><p>"A demon must have escaped Chris' one man army yesterday, it just attacked here. It escaped, but I have a summoning spell, only thing is it's power of three. Can you come home? I've tried calling Chris but he must be in the underworld again, and I'd like to deal with the damn thing before Jenny realises we're in the attic which we told her was off limits or worse comes across the demon and gets herself killed. Quickly please!" she said briskly, and Phoebe rolled her eyes, then glared at her sister.</p><p>"Look at this, we've kicked our nephew out and can't even kick ass properly all because you opened your big mouth and let Jenny stay with us." She said, standing up.</p><p>Paige looked at her irritably.</p><p>"I was being nice! And it's not my fault it all went a bit wrong somewhere." She said ruefully, as Phoebe put a sign on her door that said occupied.</p><p>"Yeah yeah. Come on, let's get home and deal with this demon, then later can track down Chris and tell him to tidy up after himself." Phoebe said, and her sister grabbed her arm and orbed them out.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Wait, you want me to leave all of a sudden?" Jenny demanded, as Piper ushered her towards the door.</p><p>"Well yes, I sort of need those things for dinner, and I forgot them, and seeing as you're staying here I was sort of hoping you would help around the house. That's all Jenny." She assured her quickly, sensing a tantrum in the offing.</p><p>"But Piper, you want me to be gone for over an hour, you said so yourself! Admit it, you don't want me around anymore!" she cried, and Piper shook her head, though was privately considering it, she missed her son, and he was a lot less trouble than she was.</p><p>"That isn't it at all Jenny, I just want you out of the house for a while, there's something I need to take care of, and I'll call you as soon as its done!" she promised, and unceremoniously shoved Jenny out into the street, making the girl pout.</p><p>So now, not only were they witches, but they were trying to get rid of her too. She couldn't let them do that, not when she had to help Gregg expose them, so she could win Chris' favour. But what if Piper was throwing her out in order to do something witchy? She smiled at the thought, and wondered how she might be able to slip back into the house without Piper knowing so as to catch the sisters in the act. She didn't want to miss this.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Why didn't Chris deal with it?" Paige cursed, orbing a knife at the demon, and Piper looked sheepish.</p><p>"I think he might have, this is kind of a different demon I've summoned!" she called nervously, as the horned demon turned around and threw another energy ball at them.</p><p>"What? You said he would be easy to deal with!" Phoebe snapped from her own hiding place.</p><p>"Well if I had summoned the right guy he would have been!" she protested, as the demon gave a roar and came towards her hiding place, making her curse.</p><p>Jenny had snuck back into the house, because, after straining hard outside on the porch, she had started to hear crashing noises and had eagerly snuck up the stairs to see what the noise was about, and when she pressed her eye to the keyhole of the attic, where the noise seemed to be coming from, she could see the sisters leaping away as a blue ball hurtled towards them.</p><p>"Lamp!" Paige yelled, and Jenny's eyes widened in shock as a lamp disappeared in blue balls and smashed somewhere in the room.</p><p>She had just seen a real life magical power! Gregg and her had been right, the girls were witches, and they had to stop them, before she or Gregg or Chris wound up the same way Dan had. What if the girls were trying to kill Chris, and they had set Dan on him so as not to implicate themselves?</p><p>"We need a vanquishing spell or potion, now!" Phoebe cursed, sliding to the floor beside her teo sisters.</p><p>"If this guy kills us, we're going to haunt you forever." Paige added bitterly, and Piper waved her hands impatiently.</p><p>"Alright, I made a mistake and summoned the wrong bad guy. We'd probably wind up vanquishing him eventually anyway." She said tartly, as another energy ball sped over them.</p><p>"Yeah, because your paranoid, neurotic son seems to want to vanquish the entire underworld by Christmas." Paige said, and Piper glared at her sister.</p><p>"Hey! Leave Chris out of this!" she snapped, and behind the door, Jenny's eyes widened. Chris was Piper's son? Surely that was impossible, Piper would have been about eight when she had him and that just didn't make sense, she paid attention in biology class.</p><p>The demon gave a roar, advancing on the sisters, who were desperately trying to locate the book, just as Chris orbed in. The demon turned to him and roared, and Chris flicked the demon into the ceiling.</p><p>"Mom, blast him!" he shouted, and Piper leapt up from behind the couch and blew up the stirring demon, and he gave a howl as he was finally vanquished.</p><p>Jenny looked on in excited delight. She had proof! Paige was definitely a witch, so was Piper. But where had Chris come from? And how the hell could he be Piper's son? She had to ask Gregg about this. Silently, she stole down the stairs and ran out of the house, calling Gregg as she did so.</p><p>XX</p><p>"So you're the one who tried to steal my demon." Chris said, helping his mother to her feet.</p><p>"Wait, so the scrawny guy I was trying to get earlier was being interrogated by you?" she asked, and Chris smiled.</p><p>"Yeah, I had to block your spell when you were trying to pinch him, and it sort of bounced, and it was just your bad luck that that demon came round the corner when he did. I didn't think much of it, I assumed some demon was after him." He said, and Phoebe and Paige hugged him.</p><p>"Do you hate us?" Phoebe asked, and he rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Yes. Now get off me you crazy old bats." He said with a grin and Phoebe shot him a disgusted glare, making Piper smiled.</p><p>"We shouldn't have ganged up on you, gone all Grams on you. And we sort of gathered that Jenny might have been the problem." She said softly, and Chris' face darkened.</p><p>"Where is the prissy little tart?" he asked sourly.</p><p>"Chris! That's a bit harsh." Phoebe scolded, and Piper shot her a look, which she pointedly ignored, going red as she did so.</p><p>"She's out at the shops that's all. I couldn't very well have her around while we went demon vanquishing." Piper explained, and Chris looked at her worriedly.</p><p>"Sweetie, I know you don't like her, and you think she could be a threat, but she's quite harmless." Paige soothed, and he looked at her sceptically.</p><p>"Why don't you listen to me? In the future, I told you Wyatt was going dark, you ignored me said it was just because he was missing mom, and next thing we know he's proclaimed himself emperor. I warned you about Dan too, and look where that got us. She can be a threat to us, she's already shown that she's as nosy as her damned uncle is, and she can't be trusted on her own. I don't trust her." Chris said, and Piper nodded.</p><p>"I know you don't sweetie, and you are right, she could be a threat to us. But for now, she's only a kid who is nosy and very good taste in men, even if she isn't the best of catches herself." She said, and Chris blushed a little.</p><p>"Just, keep an eye on her won't you?" he asked, and she nodded.</p><p>"Of course we will sweetie. You staying for dinner?"</p><p>Chris looked at the pleading expression on his mother's face, the want to have her son where she could see him, so she could make him feel like part of the family, rather than someone who could just be discarded whenever something else came along.</p><p>"Mom..." he said, and she looked at him pleadingly.</p><p>"Chris, please honey. Just stay for dinner." She begged, and he sighed.</p><p>"Alright, fine, I will. And aunt Phoebe, 'Picked on in Prescott'?" he asked with amusement, and she looked at him innocently.</p><p>"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said, and left the wrecked attic, which Chris mostly tidied up with a flick of his finger.</p><p>"Wait, that was about him? I thought that was about when you and Prue made me do everything I didn't want to do." Piper said irritably, and Paige smiled.</p><p>"Egotist. You sticking around?" she asked Chris hopefully, wanting to make it up to her nephew and he shrugged uncertainly, but Piper nodded.</p><p>"Yes he is, he's going to stay and bake with his mother, he's done enough vanquishing for one day. And Paige, you lucky girl, you get to entertain Jenny when she gets back and keep her out of Chris' way!" she said brightly, and Paige sighed in frustration.</p><p>"Thanks. I get all the crappy jobs." She moaned, and Chris shot her a superior smirk.</p><p>"At least you can do them from the comfort of your own home." He commented sarcastically, before heading down the stairs, leaving a guilty Paige, Piper and Phoebe in his wake.</p><p>"You know, I know he's got every right to keep doing that, but still, it does hurt when he does it." Paige lamented sadly, and Phoebe frowned.</p><p>"Maybe we should stop setting ourselves up for such emotional broadsides. Hey, did you consider it might be all three of our faults that he's such a wreck?" she asked musingly, and Piper grimaced.</p><p>"Yes I did, and I don't like that line of thought. But I think it's more to do with losing us than anything else, like the way we've treated him before, even if that hasn't helped. Well, other than you, you've always been a bitch to him apparently." She told her sister brightly before following her son.</p><p>"Yeah but he's starting to like me now!" Phoebe protested petulantly, before Paige orbed her back to the office.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Powers? Then this is far worse than I imagined, they are clearly followers of the antichrist, they need to be stopped." Gregg said as he stood outside the market, talking to Jenny.</p><p>"Their powers are cool though. But one thing I don't get, Piper said Chris is her son, and he was calling her mom. How can that be?" she asked, her concern for the man of her dreams growing.</p><p>"I don't know, the witch has probably enchanted him. He might not be able to be saved. It isn't his fault, and if the witches have gotten to him, God will be merciful in his judgement. Now, we need to get one of them to confess to it, because only through confession will we be able to adequately expose them and they can begin to repent for their sins. These powers are evil, and so are these witches." Gregg said, and Jenny looked at him sadly.</p><p>"But they still seem nice though, I don't see how they can all be evil. And I don't believe Chris is evil either, he's such a nice guy." She said, her voice lustful, and Gregg rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Oh, and he wasn't evil with the way he rebuffed your advances? He was cruel was he not?" he asked, and she looked at him uncertainly.</p><p>"Well, yeah, but that's only because he was shocked, not because he is actually nasty." She defended, and he smiled at her naiveté.</p><p>"As you say. Now, keep close to the witches. We can't give them any reason to suspect what we're up to. Try and find some way to force them to use their powers in front of you. We will expose them as witches."</p><p>"What about Chris?" she asked worriedly, and he prevented himself from rolling his eyes, albeit with great difficulty.</p><p>"If we can, we will save him. But if he has powers, then he too is a witch and must be killed, it's the only way to undo the acts of the devil, to prevent their dark takeover." He said, and she nodded.</p><p>Religious wackjob or not, he was as keen as she was to expose them, and if they were exposed, Dan would be free. Everything now made sense, why he and Piper had split up, why he had cracked, they were witches and had brought it on themselves. And now, she would be involved in the biggest expose of the century, by showing that witches still existed.</p><p>Smiling at the thought of how thankful Chris would be when he was freed from the spell he was under, she headed back to the manor.</p><p>XX</p><p>Chris and Piper spent the afternoon cooking, and Jenny was delighted when she discovered that he had come back as he came out to put freshly made bread on the table.</p><p>"Chris, you're back! I'm so glad to see you!" she said brightly, taking a few steps towards him.</p><p>Piper walked out of the kitchen with Phoebe in tow, and growled.</p><p>"If she takes another step towards my son, I won't be responsible for my actions." She warned, and Phoebe snorted in amusement.</p><p>"Yeah, I am. Jenny, maybe it would be best if you stayed at the other side of the table." He said, and she looked up at him, hurt.</p><p>"Oh, alright then. Are you still mad I kissed you?" she asked softly, and Chris looked in exasperation at his mother, who shrugged, there was really no way he could win the question.</p><p>"Yes Jenny. As I said, I'm not interested. At all." He said in as polite a voice as he could manage, and he saw tears come into her eyes, but he was strangely unbothered by that fact.</p><p>"Was I not a good kisser?" she asked miserably, and Paige looked at him sceptically, wondering how he would answer that.</p><p>"Um...no, not really, but it's mainly because I didn't want to be kissed." He said diplomatically, when in truth he had never enjoyed a kiss less in his life.</p><p>"Oh. Sorry." She sniffed, but before she could run off upstairs to cry into her pillow, Piper put her dinner down at her side of the table, the opposite end from Chris, and she was separated from him by Phoebe.</p><p>"Nice." Phoebe whispered, partly exasperated and partly amused, and he shrugged.</p><p>"Well I didn't like it, it was too wet and icky, and her lips tasted of cherry and I hate cherry." He said, and she snorted in amusement.</p><p>In contrast to their last dinner together, this one Jenny was relatively quiet for, her eyes red, and despite a few concerned attempts by Paige to make her talk, Jenny just sat eating her dinner in silence, which she did have to admit, was sort of a blessing.</p><p>The others continued to talk, and Chris had expected an interrogation, and instead the girls asked about his childhood before the world had gone to hell, which he wasn't that fussed about talking about, and he mentioned his brother several times, and the girls smiled at the news that he wasn't always a monster. In fact, Chris mused, if Jenny had tried to kiss him when his brother was around she'd have been sent running for the hills even before he had gone dark.</p><p>The dinner was packed away, and once more Chris went through to the living room, but Jenny once more followed, and when she sat on the sofa beside him, he purposely got up and sat on an armchair, rolling his eyes as he did so.</p><p>"Did you not like it that much?" Jenny asked tearfully, and Chris looked at her in exasperation.</p><p>"Jenny, I'm sure you're a nice enough girl," he lied, "but I really am not interested. I don't have time for a relationship, you're far too young for me, I barely know you, and considering how badly my last relationship ended, I'm not particularly keen on the idea of any girl at the moment." He said plainly, and she looked up at him with eyes that were brimming with tears.</p><p>"You like Piper and the others well enough!" she protested, part of her accusing, but the other part slightly curious, seeing if she could get anything out of him.</p><p>He was much too wily for that.</p><p>"They're like my family, that's all. I'm not going to kiss any of them any time soon." He said, slightly grossed out by the idea. Yeah, Paige looked great in this timeline but he still wasn't going to stick his tongue down her throat, that would just be far too weird, it had been bad enough kissing the trashy blonde who looked like Phoebe.</p><p>"Tell that to Piper! I can tell she really likes you!" she shouted, and he had to suppress a grin. He was her favourite kid after all, even now.</p><p>"And I really like her too, but it isn't like that. Not at all." He said firmly, and she pouted up at him.</p><p>"But I thought you liked me! After all, you left so as not to upset me!" she said, and he glowered at her.</p><p>"Let me make this clear. I left because Piper asked me, not because of you. And, I'm sorry Jenny but I just don't like you. In that way." He concluded so as not to totally upset her.</p><p>"We could be a nice couple though." She protested, and he shook his head.</p><p>"No Jenny, no way. Sorry." He said firmly, and once more she burst into heartbroken sobs and ran for the stairs.</p><p>"Mom? You're celibacy option is starting to look more attractive." He said grimly as Jenny slammed the door to her room above them.</p><p>XX</p><p>"Are you sure you'll be ok Jenny? I'm sorry about this, but Paige was insistent I go to P3." Piper said apologetically to the still emotionally unstable girl, and Jenny shrugged.</p><p>"I'll be fine, you do what you need to do." She said, and Piper looked at her worriedly.</p><p>"Are you sure you don't need me to stay with you? I'm sure this won't take long." She said, figuring her sister had found a demon in the club, couldn't reach Chris and was waiting for back up.</p><p>"I'll be fine, I'll just watch tv, and if I get hungry I'll make a sandwich or eat ice cream." She said, and Piper nodded, her eyes still slightly concerned. She still wasn't particularly thrilled with having to leave Jenny, but the message Dennis had called with telling her that her sister needed her had sounded quite urgent, and Phoebe was at work. Though she didn't understand why Paige didn't just orb home to collect her, it would have been much quicker.</p><p>"Alright. Be careful and I'll be back soon, then we can go out for lunch and have a day of pampering, Phoebe's only working half the day, she can watch Wyatt. How does that sound?" Piper asked, after all it was her son who had made the girl miserable, even if he was in his rights to do so.</p><p>"Yeah, cool." She said brightly, and Piper gave a last wave before heading out with Wyatt.</p><p>And now that they were gone, Jenny had to make a move. Chris was just like the others, in fact he was even worse. Why wouldn't he want to be her boyfriend? There was nothing wrong with her, she was a good looking girl, he would be lucky to have her. So why was he so disinterested? She didn't buy that nonsense about his last girlfriend dying, it just seemed so stupid, and she had looked him up on the internet, there was no mention of him anywhere. And it was clear that the sisters were on his side, even if they had forced him out to accommodate her. They didn't even care about her broken heart, or about her uncle. She'd come here wanting Piper to visit Dan, to make it better for him, but she hadn't wanted to, no she was having too much fun with a guy she should be with to go and see the man she had driven insane. They didn't care about her, they dismissed her as emotional and stupid.</p><p>They would soon see.</p><p>She phoned Gregg, grinning as she did so. She would make them all pay.</p><p>XX</p><p>"He's horrible, he doesn't want me! Why doesn't he want me?" she demanded, and while Gregg could think of several reasons he kept his mouth shut.</p><p>"You are committed to this plan then?" he asked sternly, and she nodded.</p><p>"They're evil witches, they don't care about me. Chris in particular, he hates me, he didn't even like my kiss! I don't care who he is, I want him to pay for what he did, for rejecting me. He's horrible, so are they." She pouted, and he smiled.</p><p>"That's because they serve the devil Jenny. But don't worry, pretty soon they will join their evil master, we'll send them down to join Lucifer. These evil doers are hurting people like you Jenny, and we can't allow that, we can't let them spread the devil's evil into our world. They are heretical abominations, and must be put down like the animals they are. Are you with me?" he asked, and she nodded eagerly.</p><p>Yes, with Gregg, they would definitely pay.</p><p>XX</p><p>Chris orbed into the attic, intending on checking up on a few demons he had encountered yesterday, see if he could figure anything else out about who was after his brother. He was wearing his new black shirt, and his hair was slightly waxed, combed back slightly to keep it from falling into his eyes when he was reading the book.</p><p>The book.</p><p>Chris looked around the attic, a feeling of trepidation filling him. He could hear the TV downstairs, and the attic door was wide open, but Dennis had said Piper was apparently going into the club, Paige was at yet another temp job and Phoebe was at work. That must have meant they had left Jenny in the house alone again. Shaking his head at their stupidity, he was about to go and close it when it occurred to him that his mother would never leave the attic door wide open while Jenny, who had already proved herself to be very nosey, was staying in the house. His mother would never be so stupid. Phoebe, possibly, Paige, slightly more possibly, but his mother, never. Chris frowned, and looked over at the book, sitting on its stand. Had a demon made a grab for it?</p><p>"Cool book." Jenny said from the doorway, making Chris jump, and he turned to glare at her, his green eyes narrowed.</p><p>"Jenny, what are you doing up here? And do you know how that door is open?" he demanded suspiciously, his nature getting the better of him.</p><p>"Yeah, I picked the lock. Cool magic book by the way. All those spells." Jenny said in excitement, stalking into the attic.</p><p>"You aren't meant to be up here. Get out." Chris said darkly, preparing to throw the stupid, nosey little girl out of the attic.</p><p>"Imagine what people will say when they find out you guys are witches!" she said in delight, and when Chris saw her wide, protuberant eyes, he knew she was just as crazy as her uncle was.</p><p>"Jenny, don't be stupid. There's no such thing as witches." He bit out, wishing he had memory dust.</p><p>"Sure there is, I saw your book yesterday. All of you are. Evil witches." She said smugly, and Chris bared his teeth.</p><p>This nosy little brat had known about the book since yesterday? He knew he should have forced the girls to get rid of her, she was dangerous, she should never have been allowed to stay here in the first place.</p><p>"You came up here, when it was locked for a reason? I don't know who your parents are missy, but they clearly sucked at enforcing rules on you. Rule number one, don't go snooping around in a house that isn't yours." He snapped, and she took a step back, hurt and ashamed.</p><p>"I wanted to see what you were hiding, and being witches explains the weird stuff in your freezer too. Wonder what people will make of that?" she asked, walking around towards the book.</p><p>"Jenny, I'm going to give you one chance. Back off, now, go downstairs and wait for the sisters." He ordered and she shook her head.</p><p>"No way. I want to look in the cool magic book." She said, reaching for the book, and Chris' patience snapped, and he flicked her over the room, shrieking as she flew and she crashed to the floor, and then glared up at him hatefully.</p><p>"You're as bad as everyone else! You're a mean witch! We could have been a nice couple but no, you rejected me! No one cares about me, no one thinks I'm worth anything, but screw you Chris, I'm showing you!" she shouted, furious tears in her eyes as Chris watched her tantrum impassively, standing before the book.</p><p>"I warned them about you, warned them anyone related to Dan was just as mad and twisted as he was, and I was right." He said, his eyes narrowed hatefully.</p><p>"You're horrible!" she yelled hysterically.</p><p>"Yeah? Well guess what? Life sucks. Deal with it." He snapped, and was about to orb her up there for his father to deal with when someone clamped a rag to his mouth.</p><p>Chris' eyes bulged as he inhaled chloroform, and he felt his body go heavy, and his eyes flickered before shutting, and he lapsed into unconsciousness.</p><p>Gregg, who had been hiding in the junk, smiled as he lowered Chris' unconscious form to the floor., and he looked at Jenny, who sniffed and picked herself up off the ground, smiling down.</p><p>Chris was totally still, barely breathing, his slightly open black shirt rising and falling, his face pale, his hair still in place and the rest of it splayed around him.</p><p>"What now?" she asked excitedly, taking in Chris' attractive, unconscious body.</p><p>"Now, we purge the wickedness from him." Gregg said with grim delight, looking at the boy on the floor and smiling crazily.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Poor Chris keeps attracting psychos doesnt he?</p><p>So what will happen to Chris now, will the girls be exposed, and what will become of Jenny and Gregg?</p><p>Read on to find out!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Gregg and Jenny's plot comes to a head, and the sisters are locked in a desperate race against time</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Present Mistakes</p><p>Chris awoke to find himself bound to a chair in the middle of the attic, and it was with a feeling of trepidation that he realised his shirt had been opened too, exposing most of his chest to the air. Great, not only was Jenny nuts and had him tied up, she was also obsessed with his half naked body too.</p><p>"Jenny?" he asked, wondering if he should risk orbing.</p><p>"Oh you're awake. Don't even try to escape, you're bound." Jenny said as she appeared, smiling lustfully at him, and he felt a tiny shiver of fear pass up his spine at the look she was giving him.</p><p>"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, and she pointed to the floor, and he bit back a curse.</p><p>The evil little bitch had trapped him in a crystal cage. Cursing his aunt Prue's meticulous instructions in the book, he glowered at her.</p><p>"How did you find out about that?" he asked angrily, trying to free his hands.</p><p>"There was a nice article on it in that grimmoire of yours. Told us exactly how to trap you. Though I'd rather not use such an icon of evil, but impaling you upon your own sword is rather poetic." A voice said, and Chris turned his head to see Gregg, the fireman, fingering a cross that hung at his neck, and he rolled his eyes.</p><p>Just what he needed, a religious wacko.</p><p>"First off, it isn't a grimmoire, it's a Book of Shadows, the mark of good witches, which is what we are. And secondly, I don't have a sword, my brother does though." He said, and Gregg shook his head, advancing on Chris.</p><p>"Witches. All of you witches. An entire nest of you, right here in San Francisco. You ought to be ashamed, but worshippers of the devil never are." Gregg said, glowering at him as he stood beside Jenny.</p><p>Chris groaned in irritation.</p><p>"Look, your holiness, we aren't evil witches. We don't worship the devil, we fight things like him, vanquish them so mortal assholes like you can sleep a little safer in your beds. We aren't evil." He said, beginning to panic slightly.</p><p>"Really? Then how do you explain so many disappearances and accidents around here? And what about Jenny's poor uncle? You drove him crazy didn't you, to get to Piper?" Gregg asked, and Jenny looked at him smugly.</p><p>"Wait, what? Hell no! Dan was insane even before he got here, we didn't do anything to him. The disappearances are usually demons and warlocks and other dangerous beings, and we try as hard as we can to prevent the accidents, we just sometimes fail." Chris finished sadly, the image of his dead mother on the floor haunting him.</p><p>"You expect us to believe that? You're mean witches, with weird powers, you don't care about us, you drove Dan mad, you rejected me!" Jenny cried, stomping her foot.</p><p>If he managed to get out of this, he and his family were going to have severe words about allowing psychos into their lives.</p><p>"Yes I rejected you, but not because I'm a witch, I rejected you because you're a mewling, spoilt, slutty, nosey little brat!" Chris hissed, and tears appeared in her eyes at the accusation.</p><p>Gregg then approached him, glowering.</p><p>"What are the devil's plans?" he asked, and Chris shook his head.</p><p>"I told you, I don't work with the devil! We destroy incarnations of him, we fight something called the Source of all Evil! I'm trying to stop the Source, and you think I want to work with him? No! I want him to be who he's meant to be, not some evil dark lord. We're good witches, we protect the innocent, fight demons and warlocks that try to take over and spread evil through the world. We're good!" Chris said, not liking how close he was.</p><p>"There is no such thing as a good witch. You are evil, it says so in the scriptures. A witch must not be allowed to live. But this is a great opportunity, you can tell us exactly what Lucifer has planned."</p><p>Chris rolled his eyes. Lucifer wouldn't be on the scene for another five years, and it had nothing to do with anything his family did.</p><p>"Lucifer isn't planning anything, its his deputies you need to worry about. Look, we aren't the bad guys! They are, they're dangerous monsters, and it's our job to stop them." Chris intoned, and Gregg shook his head in disappointment.</p><p>"You remain convinced that you are good. I didn't want to start this this early, but you leave me no choice." He said, and tipped Chris' head back before pouring water down his throat.</p><p>Chris swallowed it, and had to admit, he was confused.</p><p>"Um, what the hell was that in aid of?" he asked derisively, and Gregg looked at the bottle of water in his hand.</p><p>"You truly are a powerful evil doer, if holy water does not affect you." He said in disgust, and Chris rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Or maybe, like I keep telling you, I'm actually a good guy? My family does more to protect your god's green earth than virtually anyone else!" he snapped, and Gregg slapped him with the back of his hand, making his cheek sting.</p><p>"No, not his face." Jenny protested slightly, and Chris glowered at her, wishing he could use his powers on her.</p><p>"You will not take my lord's name as justification for your evil crimes. You are a foul heretic, an abomination, and you must be destroyed like you so thoroughly deserve." Gregg said, and Chris had had enough.</p><p>He squinted his eyes, and Gregg was blown out of the crystal cage, which hummed as he passed through it, slamming to the floor beside Jenny, who squeaked in terror.</p><p>"You abomination! How dare you strike a devoted servant of the lord!" Gregg roared furiously, his face red, clutching his cross as he did so.</p><p>"Your lord? Where is he?" Chris demanded, and Gregg looked at him as if he were crazy.</p><p>"He is all around us, something you, abomination will never understand." He sneered, and Chris shook his head smugly.</p><p>"No he isn't. He isn't here anymore. He left. He doesn't care about humans, he doesn't care about earth. You can be as sinful as you want because he doesn't care! He abandoned you all, left you all alone, and you pray to him day after day, and if he hears you, he laughs! He let's this world go to hell, let's everything good be destroyed. I've seen the future. I've seen what the devil does. He rounds up every religious leader and obliterates them. Churches, mosques, synagogues, all of them are destroyed. The Vatican is disintegrated. If God really did exist, really did care, would he let that happen?" Chris snapped, and Gregg lost control and ran at him again, and Chris once more squinted and blew Gregg to the floor.</p><p>He wished he could free his hands, but they were bound too tight. If he could use his hands to direct his telekinesis, he could deal with both of these idiots.</p><p>"See, you're an evil witch, just like Gregg says! You drove Dan insane, you hurt my feelings. Piper broke up with Dan because she's an evil witch too!" Jenny howled in a bratty voice, and Chris struggled against the chair, wanting to rip the little bitch insulting his mother apart.</p><p>"Piper is the best good witch in the world. We had nothing to do with Dan going insane, he was already an abusive nutter, and I hurt your feelings because I don't like you!" Chris yelled angrily, his shirt flapping as he struggled to free himself.</p><p>"Why don't you like me, what's wrong with me?" she demanded, and he rolled his eyes at the tears in her eyes.</p><p>Seriously, if he cried as much as she did at her age, he'd have been dead. At sixteen, he was completely orphaned, on the run, trying to organise some sort of resistance against his brother while Wyatt picked off everyone who might be able to help him one by one, always reminding Chris of who the true power was.</p><p>"You're a whining, spoilt, annoying little kid, who has a temper tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants, and who can't kiss to save herself. And just for the record, most guys don't like cherry flavoured lip gloss." He said savagely, still trying to free his hands.</p><p>Gregg was back on his feet.</p><p>"You will tell us nothing of the devil's plans?" he asked angrily, and Chris shook his head.</p><p>"No, because I don't work with the devil, I work against him and his minions. I'm not evil!" Chris said, and Jenny glowered at him through teary eyes.</p><p>"Yes you are!" she wailed, and he rolled his eyes. A few smacks were what she needed, nothing more.</p><p>"You cavort with the devil, you are trying to destroy god's earth, you spread lies about him, and a witch cannot be suffered to live. We have enough proof to have you all burned at the stake like you deserve." Gregg said confidently, prowling around behind Chris.</p><p>"You can't burn witches at the stake anymore, people will notice." Chris spat, not liking the fact that he couldn't see Gregg.</p><p>"Yet you will all be killed as the abominations you are. Even the baby must be destroyed. You cannot be allowed to taint paradise." Gregg said, and Chris struggled, trying to free himself.</p><p>"Leave Wyatt alone!" he demanded, and Gregg smiled evilly as he approached Chris from behind, and Chris was beginning to panic as he couldn't see the nutjob, he couldn't defend himself.</p><p>"I cannot suffer a witch to live. You must be destroyed witch, like the vile poison you are. You cannot taint this world any longer demon. You fraternisation with the devil is at an end. I will not allow you to hurt the innocent, like Jenny here. You will not be allowed to destroy god's good. You must die." Gregg said, pulling a gold rope from a church alter from his pocket.</p><p>"Yeah. Then uncle Dan will be back to normal, and I'll find a nice guy, who likes me! They won't be as dreamy as you, but I'll find one!" Jenny shouted defiantly.</p><p>"No, wait, what are you doing?" Chris asked worriedly, trying to free himself more fervently, but he couldn't, it wasn't working.</p><p>"Putting you to death abomination. Your death will be a sign to the others, that we cannot allow evil to live." Gregg said, tightening the rope.</p><p>Chris abruptly realised what was going to happen to him, and he started jerking his head around in panic. His powers would freeze soon as well, he would be trapped.</p><p>"No, please, don't! I'm not evil, please, don't do this, you can't kill me, thou shall not kill!" Chris pleaded, and Gregg smiled.</p><p>"It doesn't apply to abominations. I am a servant of the lord, and you must be punished for your sins. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is on heaven." Gregg began, and wrapped the rope around Chris' throat, while Jenny looked on excitedly.</p><p>Chris gagged as the rope cut into his throat, tightening all the time. He was being strangled again, why did he keep getting strangled by psychos? He began to gag as the rope cut tighter into his airway, and he began to thrash as Gregg continued to recite the prayer behind him. As he continued, Chris began to kick his legs, but bound as he was, all he was doing was making noise, he couldn't move his legs, his arms were bound tight, he couldn't use his powers to defend himself either.</p><p>"No, please!" he begged croakily as the rope cut into him, and he continued to jerk around on the chair, his open shirt flapping as he did so, but he was held fast, and Gregg's grip was too strong.</p><p>Chris was making desperate gagging sounds, gurgling desperately for air as the rope severed his life force, his eyes bulging in panic. His legs were kicking sporadically, but they were doing nothing that could free him from Gregg's murderous grasp. He was pulling against the bonds around his wrists, but he couldn't get round the back of the chair, and it was getting harder and harder to keep fighting. Gregg continued to recite the prayer continuously, the rope pulling ever tighter around his neck as he did so, and Chris was gasping desperately for air, trying to free himself. He was moving around in the chair, trying to at least knock himself over to gain some respite, but Gregg held fast, and his legs twitching was wearing him out. He kept trying to pull his hands up to defend himself, but he was held fast by his bonds, the rope cutting into his neck ever tighter, his breath becoming more urgent as he did so, his eyes wide and bulging as his air was cut off.</p><p>Chris was failing, he knew that. His legs weren't thrashing around as much, he could hear the blood pounding in his ears as his airway was cut off, the back of his head was throbbing, his hair was falling into his face, and black spots were appearing in his eyes, which were still large and round. He was going to die, he wasn't going to survive. This was his second time being murdered by an ex of Piper's. He gave a desperate gurgle, a groan in the back of his throat, and he felt his body begin to spasm, it began to shake violently due to the lack of air. Gregg smiled crazily down at him as he tipped his head back, and Chris tried once more to break free, but couldn't.</p><p>Chris gurgled in defeat. His legs stopped, his hands stopped moving. Sweat was glistening on his chest as he came to a stop. His head tipped back, his face red and mouth hanging open in a final attempt to get air into his body. His hair cascaded back from his head as his head flopped over the back of the chair. And with a final gurgle, the last of his life left him, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, and Chris was gone.</p><p>XX</p><p>"You said you needed me right away!" Piper scolded her sister as Phoebe came down the stairs, looking curious as to what they were arguing about.</p><p>"I did not, I told Dennis to tell you that I was just a bit late, and would be by later to pick you and Jenny up for lunch." Paige said grouchily.</p><p>"Who's going to lunch?" Phoebe asked, and Paige rolled her eyes.</p><p>"We are, but Piper didn't bring Jenny!" she said, and Piper shook her head.</p><p>"He told me you needed me, so I came here." She said stubbornly.</p><p>"Hey wait a minute you two! You were going to lunch without me?" Phoebe asked, pouting, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"I was hoping you would call Chris and take him out for a meal without an overemotional teenager sobbing every time she sees him." She said, and Paige looked slightly embarrassed.</p><p>"Yeah, I didn't realise how much of a pain she would be, how much trouble she would cause. I'm sorry Piper, me letting her stay came between you and Chris, and considering we just got him to talk to us, that was the last thing that I wanted." She said sheepishly, and Piper shook her head.</p><p>"No, it's my fault too, I forgot how, well, irritating even for a teenager Jenny can be. And I didn't expect her to snog my son. And I do credit him with better taste, even if his fiancé was a bit of a hussy." She said disapprovingly, and Phoebe and Paige looked at her in shocked delight.</p><p>"You can't tell him that! It's bad enough you've kicked him out twice, tell him you didn't think much of his fiancé and you might lose him." Phoebe said, and Piper shrugged.</p><p>"I think he probably knows I would never have approved of Bianca. Anyway, either way this should never have gotten so out of hand. I certainly shouldn't have kicked Chris out to make her happy, she should have gone back where she belonged. We were stupid to let her stay in the first place." Piper said, and they did have to agree on that.</p><p>"Alright, well, you're here now, and so is Phoebe, so why don't we go home, pick up Jenny and go for lunch?" Paige asked, and Piper nodded, picking up Wyatt.</p><p>"Alright. I'll just, Dennis!" she called, as her serving boy came out, looking confused.</p><p>"Piper, what are you doing here?" he asked in confusion, and she looked at him suspiciously.</p><p>"You called me and told me Paige needed me." She said worriedly, and he shook his head, confused.</p><p>"No I didn't Piper." He protested, and Piper began to get a sick feeling in her gut.</p><p>"You didn't?" Paige asked, her own alarm growing, they were too used to such ploys not to worry.</p><p>"No, I swear." He said, making the scout's salute, and Phoebe looked at them worriedly.</p><p>"Are you sure it was Dennis?" Phoebe asked worriedly, and Piper bit her lip.</p><p>"He did sound a bit different, but why would someone want me out of the house?" she asked, fear growing inside of her.</p><p>"Why else? They're the after the book." Paige said darkly, and Phoebe's expression turned to one of alarm.</p><p>"And Jenny's there, and you know what she's like, she'll probably try and make friends with the demon if it attacks, she'll get herself killed." She exclaimed.</p><p>"Oh crap, I can't believe we fell for this one again!" Piper wailed, heading for the stairs, and tripping, banging into a table, and she nearly dropped Wyatt, but Paige orbed him to her just in time.</p><p>"Ow!" she hissed, and Phoebe lifted up her tshirt to check the bruise on her belly.</p><p>"It isn't that bad. See?" she asked, poking at it, and she was suddenly locked in a vision, and judging by the look on her sister's face as she came out of it, it wasn't a good one.</p><p>"Phoebe?" Piper asked, but then it suddenly clicked.</p><p>Whoever was behind this didn't want the book at all. They were after something infinitely more precious.</p><p>They were after her baby boy. They were after Chris.</p><p>"Chris?" she demanded breathlessly, and Phoebe nodded.</p><p>"Yes, in the attic! Gregg, the fireman, your ex, he was strangling him, and Jenny was just, just watching!" she wailed, and sickened fury filled Piper.</p><p>Jenny was as sick and twisted as her uncle was, and Gregg, she had broken up with him because she knew he would never be able to handle magic. And if he and Jenny were in this together, Gregg must have lured her out of the house, Jenny must have let him in and now...</p><p>"Oh my god, I've gotten Chris killed! He warned us about Jenny, and we didn't listen! How much time does he have? Chris? Chris!" Piper shouted, and received no response, and usually when she was panicking he was there in an instant.</p><p>"What if it's happening now?" Phoebe demanded worriedly, and Piper shook her head.</p><p>She couldn't lose him, she couldn't lose her son, she couldn't face that, not now. Not when she had let someone else who wanted to hurt him into her home, not when she had chosen someone else over him again, not when she had once more ignored his warnings, not when she had nearly gotten him killed again.</p><p>"Well we need to get here, come on!" Paige said, grabbing her sisters and orbing to the manor.</p><p>XX</p><p>Jenny approached cautiously, running her hand down Chris' chest as his open eyes gazed into nothing.</p><p>"Is he...dead?" she asked softly, and Gregg smiled, lifting Chris' head up for her to see, and she flinched a little as she saw his eyes rolled to the back of his head, clearly dead.</p><p>"Yes. We have removed some of the poison, now we need to wait for the sisters and child to get home, then we will kill them too." He said excitedly, this would be a good day for furthering god's cause.</p><p>Jenny stroked Chris' cheek as his head flopped onto his chest, looking at the attractive body. How she wished he could have been hers, they would have been a great couple.</p><p>"You know, if you had liked me, you needn't have died, I could have protected you." She said to Chris, tipping his head back again, and Chris of course made no reply.</p><p>"We could have been a great couple, everyone would have been jealous of us, of my gorgeous boyfriend, but no, you had to still be in love with someone else! I threw myself at you, and you rejected me. You got what you deserved, I'm beautiful, you'd be lucky to be with me, but you said you didn't like me, how could you not like me?" she demanded hysterically, running her hands through Chris' waxed hair, looking at his body angrily.</p><p>"Yep. Crazy..." Gregg said, and turned as blue orbs entered the attic, and Piper looked at them in fury, while Phoebe and Paige looked at them in shock.</p><p>"Witches!" Gregg said in malicious delight, raising his cross.</p><p>"See what happens to people who reject me? You're mean witches, you deserve everything you get!" Jenny screamed in a bratty voice, and Piper gave a maternal roar, and blew apart the floor they were both standing on, sending them and two of the cage crystals plummeting to the floor below with a loud thump as they slammed into the hard wooden floors a floor below, and she froze them through the holes she had made before rushing to her son.</p><p>"Chris, no, come on baby breathe...Leo!" she cried hysterically, seeing her son's rolled back eyes and fearing the worst, and Phoebe and Paige were at her side, untying Chris so they could get him to the floor to try and revive him.</p><p>"Chris, come on!" Paige pleaded, but her nephew gave no response, he couldn't be dead, it would be all her fault, she had brought Jenny into the house, it would be her fault.</p><p>"Chris, please!" Phoebe cried, tears in her eyes, they couldn't lose him, not now, not when they knew who he was.</p><p>Leo orbed down, and didn't even need to ask what was going on, he just sunk to his knees and began to heal Chris, pleading for it to work.</p><p>"Is it working?" Piper cried, and Leo bit his lip.</p><p>Either it was taking a very long time, or he was too late, his son was dead, but he couldn't live with that, he wouldn't.</p><p>There was then a flurry or orbs and Wyatt appeared beside his father, and took a hold of Leo's hands gently. Leo tried to shake his son off, determined to save his other, but then Piper touched his shoulder.</p><p>"Leo, look!" she said in wonder, as golden light appeared from Wyatt's hands and added to Leo's, passing over Chris' reddened neck, and Leo smiled as he saw the red mark begin to disappear.</p><p>"Wyatt!" Paige exclaimed in awe as her nephew helped save his little brother.</p><p>"Kwis!" Wyatt cried anxiously, and Chris suddenly shot up, gasping for air and coughing.</p><p>"Wy?" Chris asked softly, and he was then wrapped in a hug by the others, crushing him, Piper holding him close and running her hand through his hair.</p><p>"Oh baby I'm so sorry..." she whispered as he coughed slightly.</p><p>"Thanks dad." Chris said in relief, and Leo held him tightly.</p><p>"Please don't ever do that to me again, I was nearly too late." He said, holding his son in a tight embrace.</p><p>"Sorry," Chris muttered ruefully as his aunts hugged him in relief.</p><p>"Looks like your big brother didn't want anything bad to happen to you." Piper said fondly, looking at her baby son, and smiling proudly at him, and Chris wriggled out of the arms of his aunts, both of whom were in danger of choking him all over again, picked up Wyatt and hugged him close.</p><p>"Thanks bro." He said in relief, and Wyatt made a happy noise.</p><p>After all, that was the brother he was here to save.</p><p>There was then a noise from downstairs, and Piper looked down at Gregg and Jenny, who were both struggling to their feet, and raised her hands to end them once and for all, and Leo did the same thing.</p><p>"Mom, dad..." Chris said scoldingly, and Piper looked hatefully down at Gregg and Jenny, who were both on their feet and looking up at Piper in fear.</p><p>"Piper, I..." Jenny whined, tears in her eyes wondering how she was trying to get out of this one</p><p>"Witches, how did you get here, how is he alive?" Gregg demanded in horrified shock, and both ran for it.</p><p>"Stop them!" Piper barked, not wanting to let the ones who had just tried to murder her son escape.</p><p>But Chris was gone, and landed just behind them as they reached the top of the stairs.</p><p>"Hey, asshole!" Chris yelled, and Gregg turned in fright and Chris blasted him with his powers, and he flew across the stairway, slamming into the wall, thudding down and then rolling to the bottom, unmoving.</p><p>Jenny looked at him in fear and shock, wondering how this could be happening as the guy she fancied advanced on her, looking murderous as Piper and the others dashed down the stairs.</p><p>"Chris, please, I only did it because he wanted me too, I know you're not a bad witch, you're good, please..." Jenny begged desperately, and Chris glowered at her.</p><p>"That might have them fooled, but not me. That act gets old rather quickly when you have a brother pulling the 'poor little me, he made me do it' routine. No Jenny, you helped him do all this, you brought him here in the first place, and this is all your fault." He snarled, and Piper watched as her son closed in on the girl, trapping her at the top of the stairs.</p><p>"Please Chris, you're a good person, you like me really, you know I didn't mean this to happen!" she wailed, tears in her eyes, and he looked at her hatefully.</p><p>"I am a good person. Which is the only reason you're not dead. But I don't like you. I hate you. I loathe you. You disgust me. And you did mean for this to happen, you meant for him to kill me because I rejected you. You're as bad as your uncle." He said, and Jenny screamed angrily at him.</p><p>"You're horrible! You're meant to be a nice boyfriend, but you're mean to me! You treat me like dirt, like I'm repulsive!" she screeched angrily, stamping her feet up and down.</p><p>"That's because you are, you ungrateful, backstabbing, manipulative, murderous little bitch." Piper snarled, raising her hands to either freeze or blast, she didn't care witch, Jenny had come into their home, forced Chris out and had nearly gotten him killed.</p><p>"You're all horrible witches! I'm going to tell everyone what a bad boyfriend you are, no one will date you again!" Jenny balled, her fists clenched and she waved them up and down in the air again.</p><p>"Suits me. And I'm not your boyfriend." Chris snarled, and she looked at him furiously, then looked at Piper hatefully.</p><p>"This is all your fault! You stole him from me! You horrible witch, you drove Dan insane and you stole Chris from me!" she balled, and ran at Piper, but she didn't even get to take two steps.</p><p>Chris had reacted instantly when she had made a move for his mother and had blasted her backwards, sending her tumbling down the stairs, her screaming in pain as she did so before landing in a heap at the bottom with her partner in crime.</p><p>"Bitch." He spat, and Piper and the others joined him and his mother pulled him into a loving hug, rocking him slightly.</p><p>"Shh, it's alright, it's over now honey, you got them, you're safe." She said, feeling the tears on her tshirt as her shaken son shook in her grasp.</p><p>XX</p><p>Chris was back to normal after a cup of strong tea, and he was watching cheerfully as Darryl arrested Gregg and Jenny. They were both beaten up and bruised by their tumbles down the stairs, but they weren't critical, so Leo had decided to let them suffer.</p><p>"They're witches, evil witches, with powers!" Gregg yelled as he was carted off.</p><p>"Yeah yeah, I believe you." Darryl said sarcastically as he vanished from the house.</p><p>"You're a mean boyfriend...but you're so dreamy...will you wait for me?" Jenny asked brightly, and Chris looked at her contemptuously.</p><p>"No, you maniac, I hate you. Course I won't wait for you." He sneered, and she burst into tears as she was escorted from the house.</p><p>"Don't worry sweetie, I'll keep her from any you, big or small." Piper promised, glowering at the girl as she left the house.</p><p>"Yeah, that little tart needs a good kick up the behind. At least she can see her uncle every day now." Paige said, feeling horrible about herself as she stood next to Chris.</p><p>"Can't decide who's the worst off then, her or him." Phoebe mused, and Chris grinned.</p><p>Darryl oversaw the two prisoners being locked into the car, then turned to them.</p><p>"Boy buddy, you sure know how to attract wackos. You ok?" he asked in concern, and he nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm fine now." He assured him, but he could see Leo's concerned eyes.</p><p>"You weren't though. Chris you were officially dead when we got to you. That was far too close, and if Wyatt hadn't helped..." he said, his voice shaking, and Chris hugged his dad fondly.</p><p>"It's ok dad, you got me in time." He assured his father, a small part of him relishing in the fact that Leo, the man he had used to despise, was crying at the thought of nearly losing him.</p><p>"Either way, what you going to do about exposure?" Darryl asked in concern, and Leo sniffed.</p><p>"Don't worry, they'll forget that the girls are witches...may forget other things too, but I'm sure some old friends will soon ensure that they're as crazy as Dan is." He said, looking to the ceiling, and there was a jingle of consent, making Chris grin.</p><p>"It was close then?" Darryl asked the boy, and he nodded, looking unhappy and scared.</p><p>"Yeah. If Wyatt hadn't blocked my powers, I could have gotten out of it." He lamented, and Phoebe squeezed his hand reassuringly.</p><p>"If he even jokes about doing that this time round, he's getting his powers bound." Piper snapped, vowing to find some way to undo the block on Chris' powers when he was in trouble as soon as she could.</p><p>"Yeah, but he did save me. Sort of let me know that the good big brother is there, always existed, that I can save him, that he wasn't just born evil." Chris said happily, smiling down at his sleeping baby big brother.</p><p>Darryl smiled, and looked at all the girls.</p><p>"Alright, any other insane exes I should know about, before they try to kill this poor kid again?" he asked, and after a bit of consideration, all the girls shook their heads.</p><p>"Nah, I think we're good." Phoebe said cheerfully.</p><p>"Yeah, all my major exes are accounted for. Dan's tried to kill him, so has Gregg, so has Leo...I think he should be safe now." Piper said fondly, eyeing her son, who smiled.</p><p>"Good. Poor kid. And next time he tells you someone is no good, do us all a favour and listen to him. Got it?" he asked, and the sisters squirmed guiltily.</p><p>"Yeah." Paige said sheepishly, and he grinned.</p><p>"Alright, take it easy Chris. Try not to get killed for a while." He said, clapping the boy on the shoulder, as he left the house.</p><p>"So let me get this straight. The niece of the man who tried to dominate Piper's life and make her into something she's not, and also tried to kill my son, comes to the house, and you let her stay?" Leo asked of Paige, who winced.</p><p>"Yeah, it was admittedly, not my best move." She said sheepishly, and Chris grinned at his father.</p><p>"Understatement of the century there." He said.</p><p>Leo smiled and continued on.</p><p>"Said niece of insane murder is an emotional, spoilt little brat, who develops a crush on Chris, and then kisses him and has a temper tantrum because he doesn't like her, and then you three throw him out to make her life better?" he asked, sitting down on the couch beside his son.</p><p>"Yeah. I didn't even think when I did it, how Chris would see it. I just thought it would be better if he was the one who was gone, make life easier. Honey, I never meant to make you think I was throwing you out again, I didn't think how it would upset you. I'm sorry." Piper said sadly, laying Wyatt into his cot.</p><p>"It's ok mom." Chris said softly, enjoying the smile he put on her face.</p><p>"And then you refuse to believe his warnings, despite her proving herself to be a stupid, nosey, spoilt little pain in the ass, and as a result, her and her holier than thou companion nearly kill my son between them, while she fondled his nearly dead body?" Leo demanded, and Phoebe looked slightly sick.</p><p>"Yeah, we did all that. We're sorry baby!" she cried in her baby voice and wrapped Chris in another hug.</p><p>"Get off me!" he protested in amusement.</p><p>"I promise that the next time you tell us someone is bad news, we will listen to you sweetie." Piper said, and Chris grinned smugly.</p><p>"Thank you. God, it's bad enough that I always had to revise extra hard to get any attention round here when I was a kid. Now I have to nearly get myself killed to get listen to!" he exclaimed, and the sisters all looked at their shoes, and while he was still smiling, Chris stroked his neck self consciously.</p><p>"You ok?" Leo asked in concern, and he nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, it's just...it scared me even more this time. Being so helpless against insane mortals...someone we know later on once told me that the worst bad guys they faced were humans, they're by far the scariest. No powers, nothing, just destructive and evil humans, usually insane too." Chris said, and Leo nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, I know. Give me a demon any day over humans. Usually we can't even get rid of them for good like we can demons." He said, his brow furrowed as was his wife's.</p><p>"Guys...thanks. You know, for what you were going to do to them. You shouldn't have even thought about it, but...thanks." Chris said meekly, and Piper smiled at her son.</p><p>"Honey, they had just killed you. I don't care about any of the Elders damn rules, if they had killed you, they would have died." She snarled, and Chris smiled.</p><p>Looked like his mother was going to be even more overprotective this time round.</p><p>"I see you're still a mommy's boy though." Paige said teasingly, and Chris shrugged.</p><p>"Yeah, so what? I'm most like mom anyway." He said defensively, and Leo grinned.</p><p>"Any chance of you being even remotely a daddy's boy?" he asked hopefully, and Chris shrugged.</p><p>"Don't know, keep playing your cards right and we'll see." He said, as Phoebe's phone rang, and she groaned and shut it off.</p><p>"Elise. Sorry Elise, but we just rescued my nephew from being murdered, you can wait." She said firmly, and Chris grinned at her.</p><p>"Thanks aunt Phoebe." He said, and she smiled.</p><p>"That mean you still like me?" she asked hopefully and he nodded.</p><p>"Course I do. All I ever wanted was for you and dad to care about me the way you cared about Wyatt." He said quietly, and Leo clapped Chris' shoulder.</p><p>"And we will buddy, I promise you'll have a decent dad this time round." He said, and Paige looked at him curiously.</p><p>"Um, am I in the bad books? I feel so bad, this whole thing was virtually all my fault." She lamented, and Chris nodded.</p><p>"Yeah, it kind of was." He said remorselessly, and she hung her head, making her sisters and Leo grin.</p><p>"But you didn't know she was a psycho, so I suppose you can be let off just this once." Chris said with a grin, and she sighed in relief.</p><p>"Thank god. But don't worry, I won't invite anyone else to stay here as long as I live." She vowed, and Piper smiled.</p><p>"Good idea, save them from trying to kill my kid again." She said, looking at Chris protectively, and Chris rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Mom I'm fine." He assured her, but she shook her head.</p><p>"Hardly. Your mother threw you out, you went and hung around in the underworld for days, and then you were almost murdered all over again. That is not being fine. You aren't leaving the house mister." She said, and Chris shook his head while Leo smiled.</p><p>"Well, it is technically your fault that he left the house in the first place anyway." He pointed out, flinching at the filthy look she gave him as a result, while the others laughed.</p><p>XX</p><p>This time it was dinner that Chris made them all, and it was only the next day. They had heard that both Jenny and Gregg had had their memories wiped, they didn't know about them being witches, and both of them were in the same place as Dan, Jenny muttering about how she and Chris belonged together and Gregg muttering about God's work. Curiously, they were also being tormented by the same spirits that had forced Dan to be strapped into a straitjacket as he kept smashing off the walls while charging at spirits only he could see, and from what they had heard, Jenny and Gregg would soon follow suit.</p><p>Chris had made a vegetarian lasagne with enough cheese to induce a heart attack, but everyone was happily tucking into it. Darryl had come with Sheila, who had wanted to meet the newest Halliwell, and had muttered to Paige that a small part of her couldn't blame Jenny for obsessing over Chris, which Paige resolved not to mention to her eldest sister. Victor had also arrived, and had been horrified to learn that his grandson had nearly been murdered again, yelling at Piper for her lousy taste in men, Phoebe for her lack of common sense and Paige for her crappy taste of house guests, and was seriously considering hiring Chris a bodyguard as he ate his dinner. Paige and Chris were having a nearly violent disagreement about Star Wars and Star Trek, but it was clear that both of them were enjoying themselves as they argued. Phoebe was spooning mashed up cheese to Wyatt, who was giggling as he ate it, so she assumed that Chris' lasagne passed his exacting standards. And Piper and Leo's eyes kept meeting over the table, smiling softly to each other, then looking proudly at their son.</p><p>He was a Halliwell through and through. And very soon, there would be a baby version of him too. And either way, Piper was determined that no one, mortal, demon or otherwise would hurt either version of her baby again.</p><p>Smiling at him proudly, and knowing she was going to drive him crazy over the next few days, she watched as her son outwitted Paige and tricked her into admitting Star Wars was superior. He definitely had her brains at least. Thank god.</p><p>She looked at him, at Chris, at her baby boy, safe once again, happy, loved and home where he belonged, and smiled.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So that's the end of this story! Once again no offence was intended to anyone, and like I say it was written many moons ago</p><p>So Dan, Jenny and Gregg are now all locked away and everything is back to normal.</p><p>But things were done in this chapter that lays out the framework for everything else that comes in the next two stories. Furthermore, the more eagle eyed amongst you will notice that this is the start of various fantasy/supernatural fandoms coming together within my stories, which well see more of next time</p><p>Anyway, Ill upload Future Mistakes in a few days, which is much larger and bigger in scope with many more involved characters, and Future is one of my favourite of the four stories, though I did enjoy writing Timeless to its current status during the first lockdown</p><p>Anyway, please kudos and comment if youre so inclined and the next story will be up in a few days time!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome! This chapter is mostly scene setting, leading into everything else still to come<br/>But is Chris right to be concerned about Jenny's presence? Is she just a normal hormonal teenager, or like her uncle is something more insidious lurking beneath the surface?</p><p>Please read on to find out, and kudos and comments are welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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